Fall Into Me
by Thunder-Nari
Summary: Remy/Roberto main pairing Bobby/Kurt secondary pairing Rated for slash and much abuse if you don't like then go away, if you do then step into the parlor my friend...
1. Default Chapter

Okay, let's see here, this is the winning pairing of that little vote thingy.  It won with, like, two votes!!  YAY!  Ummm, anyway… It's an AU, Remy never met Magneto, doesn't know about the X-Men or any of that stuff.  Anything you think you know about Remy's past you can forget.  There is no Thieves Guild, he didn't have to marry Belladonna and Jean-Luc is his biological father.  Yeah, my mind's kinda blank right now and I can't think of anything else that needs saying, so, go!  Read, enjoy and review:D

Disclaimer: Not mine they belong to Marvel, just borrowing, blah blah blah, I don't feel like writing something creative here…

Fall Into Me

Nari

Chapter One

The first warning bell sounded giving the kids milling about in the halls five minutes to get their books and get to their classes.  Moments later and the halls were empty save for the few who were running late or who didn't care about showing up to their classes on time and remained chatting in the hallway until a teacher came by telling them to get to class.

The doors at the school's main entrance opened with a bang against the wall as two students ran in, late again even after they had been warned about it twice before.

"This is all your fault, Kurt!  You and your gut bombs!!"

Kurt gave him an indignant look as he continued to race down the hallway.

"I needed the nourishment!  You wouldn't want me to collapse halfway through class 'cause I didn't get my morning food!"

Roberto rolled his eyes but elected not to comment.  Nothing would ever come between Kurt and his gut bombs, it was just like Evan and his milk.  Kurt seemed to need it to survive.  They raced around the corner; their classroom was directly on the other side.  At least they weren't overly late this time, only a few minutes.

Apparently the thought came just a little too soon.  When they rounded the corner, both boys failed to notice that someone was walking on the other side and they collided with a crash.    Kurt and Roberto ended up in a tangled heap while the other boy ending up on his back in front of them.  There were papers scattered everywhere, along with books and pens.  Kurt and Roberto looked sheepishly at the scowling boy lying sprawled on the floor.  Although they couldn't see his eyes, which were covered by a pair of insanely dark ray bans, they could see the narrowed eyebrows and the frown on his lips.

"Um, oops?"  Kurt offered, nervously.

The other said nothing, simply shook his head in anger, got up, gathered his scattered things and walked away, trench coat flaring behind him.  Roberto glared after his retreating back.

"What an ass," he mumbled, helping Kurt to pick up their own things.  They heard a clicking of shoes and looked up to see Principal Kelly walking up to them.  He did not look too pleased at seeing them in the halls.

"I think it's time you both got to your class and stopped wasting time."  He looked at them both in barely concealed disgust.  Roberto was about to take a step forward and say something but Kurt put a hand on his shoulder, halting him.

"Let's just go."  They turned to head for their class room but stopped when Kelly cleared his throat.

"You will both have a detention after school.  You've been warned about being late before."  He turned on his heel and left, heading back the way he had come.  The two sighed and entered their classroom, getting another berating from their English teacher.

They took seats across from each other, opening there books and listening to the teacher as she began to speak and make notes on the board.  Roberto settled back into his seat and let his mind wander.  So far today had not been any good and he wondered what horror was in store for him next.

#

Remy LeBeau walked down the empty halls, heading for the principals office to collect his schedule and locker number so he could start his first day at the Bayville High School.  

Not that he was all that anxious to really get started.  It hadn't been his idea to come down here, he would have much rather stayed in New Orleans.  His father, Jean-Luc, had moved them all up to Bayville, wanting to start a new life.  All, being himself, his father and his mother, Mary.  She was currently out trying to find a job, had left that morning when Remy had headed for school.  His father was probably out at some bar, getting drunk instead of looking for work like he should.

He heard footsteps and turned to see Principal Kelly striding up the hall behind him.  He turned and waited for the man to catch up to him.

Kelly took in the tattered trench coat, sunglasses and less than stylish clothes with obvious distaste.

"Don't you have some cleaning or something to do instead of standing around?"

Remy smiled slightly sardonically and answered.  "Actually my name be Remy LeBeau, I'm de new student.  Was just coming t' find y'."

"LeBeau, very well, come with me."  Kelly motioned for Remy to follow him and walked away.

Once in the office he turned back to Remy and gestured for him to take a seat in one of the simple wooden chairs in front of his desk.  Remy elected not to, remained standing and walked slowly around the room, taking everything in.  Kelly glared at him but didn't comment.

"Is there a reason for those?"  Kelly asked, gesturing to Remy's sunglasses.

"Oui, got an eye condition me.  Not supposed t' let de light hit dem.."  Kelly didn't look like he believed Remy but seemed willing to let it slide for now.  Remy sighed, relieved, he didn't need anybody freaking out because of his less then usual eyes.

Kelly reached into his desk and brought out two pieces of paper which he handed to Remy.

"This is your schedule and locker number with combination.  I trust that you will have no problem in finding your classes and you are already late."  Remy heard the dismissal in the words and left the office, not bothering with a reply.

He wandered the halls until he found the correct locker number and, after opening it, shoved his books and other stuff inside.  He checked over his schedule and saw that he had Biology first with a Mr. McCoy.  Grabbing what he would need, he headed for the Biology room.

Once he had reached the correct room, he paused a moment to peer through the window.  The class was filled with seniors, busy taking notes from the rather large teacher at the front of the class.  Mr. McCoy noticed him and, with a smile, motioned for him to join them.  Remy could feel the eyes on him as he entered the room.

"Hey, Scott did ya get yourself a fan club?"  Remy heard someone whisper none too quietly.

"Shut up, Paul," was the response.

Mr. McCoy ignored them.  "Welcome to my humble Biology class.  If you would just take a seat, Mr. LeBeau I presume?"  Mr. McCoy said with a huge welcoming smile.

"Yeah, but call me Remy."  Were teachers supposed to be this friendly?

"May I ask why the sunglasses?"

"Eye condition."  Remy shrugged.

"Whoa, you really **are starting a fan club."**

"Shut **up, Paul!"**

"Ah.  Take a seat, then, and we will resume.  You can see me after class to catch up on anything you've missed, Remy."

Remy took a seat near the front and tried to pay attention as McCoy began speaking again.

#

Lunch slowly rolled around and the kids all gathered in the halls or the cafeteria, a few leaving campus to eat elsewhere.  Roberto entered the cafeteria, scanning around until he found the group he was looking for.  He walked over to them and slid into a seat, saying a quick 'hi' to Bobby and Ray.  He turned to Amara and Jubilee who seemed to be deep in conversation about something then turned a questioning gaze on Bobby and Ray.  They shrugged a little helplessly.

"Just listen," Ray said.  The trio turned their attention back to the two girls.

"Mmmmm, I wonder what his eyes look like?"  Amara said dreamily.

"They're definitely brown, a deep hazel brown."

"No way!  They'd be blue, a beautiful cobalt blue.  Oh God and those shades and the trench coat make him look so cool!"

Roberto groaned loudly and the two girls looked over at him, angry that he had disturbed their discussion.

"You're talking about that new guy, aren't you?"

"Oh my God!  You know him?!  Are you friends with him?  Would you introduce us?  What's he like?"  Amara shot at him.  Roberto blinked his eyes at the rapid fire questions.

"I don't know him.  Me and Kurt kinda… ran into him this morning.  The guy seems like an absolute jerk."  The girls gawked at him in horror.  "What?"  He shook his head.  "The guy is a nutcase.  I mean, come on, sunglasses inside?"

"Scott wears sunglasses inside," Jubilee pointed out.  Roberto didn't bother giving her the obvious answer that Scott didn't really have a choice.

"Its summer and he still wears a coat!"  Roberto threw his hands up in the air in exasperation as both the girls got dreamy looks again.  The bell rang and Roberto stood with a relieved sigh.  "Thank god…"  he muttered, walking away from the group.

#

At the end of school, Roberto sluggishly made his way towards the detention room to serve out his one hour of prison.  He figured that he was lucky to get off that easily.  Kurt was waiting outside the door for him, scuffing his foot against the floor and staring at his feet.  He looked up when Roberto approached him.

"Let's go get this over with," Roberto said rather angrily.  Kurt nodded and followed Roberto into the room.  They took seats apart from each other, knowing from experience that they would be told to anyway.

Roberto figured that he may as well get his homework done while he waited for the time to pass.  At least it was nice and quiet here, the mansion was so crowded with kids that it was nearly impossible to get anything done without being disturbed.  Besides that, he guessed that he would be spending some time with Wolverine after this latest infraction of the rules.

He began to work on the math problems laid out in front of him and was soon absorbed in the work.  He didn't notice when the teacher dismissed them until Kurt was at his side, trying to gain his attention.

"You go on without me.  I just wanna finish these problems," he said distractedly and waved Kurt away.  Kurt shook his head but didn't protest and left for the mansion and the, most likely, awaiting Logan.

It was another thirty minutes before Roberto finally finished all his homework and gathered his stuff.  A quick stop by his locker to drop off whatever he wouldn't need and he was ready to head back to the mansion.

He walked quickly across the school parking lot and almost jumped out of his skin when a hand landed on his shoulder.  He didn't show his alarm though and, instead, turned to coolly regard the two boys that were standing behind him.  He raised an eyebrow in question at them, a look of impatience on his face.

"Aren't you one of those muties from that Xavier place?"  one of them sneered.  Roberto rolled his eyes; he did not need to hear this again.  Deciding that these two morons were not worth the time, he turned and began to walk away.

"Hey!  We were talking to you, mutie!" The first one, goon number one Roberto decided, grabbed hold of Roberto's arm and spun him back around.

"You do not want to be messing with me," Roberto bit out.  These guys were asking for it and Roberto thought about conveniently 'forgetting' about the warning the Professor had given them to not use their powers in public.

"Oh yeah?"  replied goon number two, oh so intelligently.  Again Roberto had to roll his eyes in disgust.

"In case you hadn't noticed, mutie, you're outnumbered here.  There ain't nothing you can do to us."  Roberto snorted, laughing at them.  He was about to prove them wrong when he felt another hand on his shoulder.  He turned around fully expecting to see goon number three but found himself looking into dark sunglasses.

"Well, why don' we jus' even de numbers out a bit, eh?"  Remy drawled, casually flipping a card between his fingers.  The two goons looked from Remy back to Roberto before mumbling something along the lines of 'this isn't over yet' and turning away.

Roberto angrily shook off Remy's hand which still rested on his shoulder and turned to glare at him.  Remy looked at him in amusement, though Roberto couldn't tell due to the sunglasses that covered his eyes.

"An' dis would be de part when you say 't'anks for de help' and den I say 'no problem, anytime'," Remy dead panned at him with a lopsided grin.

"I could have dealt with it," Roberto gritted out between his teeth.

"Ah, I see.  Alright, de next time I see y' about t' get your ass kicked, I'll just stand by and enjoy de show," Remy chuckled as he turned and walked away, leaving Roberto to scowl after him in the empty parking lot.

#

"Hey, mom!  Y' home?"  Remy called out into the still house.  There was no answer and he figured that she must still be out job hunting.  He knew that his father would not be home until the late hours of the night, if at all.

Out drinking again, Remy thought, as was the usual for Jean-Luc.  Remy refused to think of him as 'dad'; the man didn't deserve that title.  Remy fervently hoped that Jean-Luc would end up drinking himself to death or maybe get into a fight with someone that he couldn't handle.  Then he and his mother could finally live a normal maybe even happy life.

Why she refused to leave that man was a mystery to him.  Oh, she had told him why but he still didn't understand.  She had married him, bound herself to him and, no matter how much he slept around, or beat her, or beat Remy; she couldn't break those vows as that would be going against what God said.

So Remy stayed with her, he couldn't let her deal with Jean-Luc's violence alone and as long as he was there he was able to deflect his father's anger away from his mother and onto himself.

He had begged Mary to leave with him.  They could run somewhere Jean-Luc could never find them.  Away from the pain and this miserable existence.  Surely God would not want her to stay with a man like Jean-Luc.  But she had refused, telling him to leave but she would stay and remain faithful.  After all, didn't God always have a reason for doing things?  Remy could see no reason for this though.

Remy brought himself out of his dark musings long enough to shrug out of his duster and set his sunglasses on the table next to the door.  He shuffled into the kitchen to get dinner started and hopefully finished by the time his mom got back.

He hoped she had been successful in finding a job; he himself would look for one after school the next day.  He was just gathering all the ingredients that he would need to make Gumbo when the phone rang and he rushed to answer it.

"Hello?"  he spoke into the receiver.

"'Ey, Remy."  Remy groaned inwardly.  This was just what he needed, a call from his no account brother, Henri.

"What do y' wan'?"  Remy said none too nicely into the phone.  Henri sounded rather upset and Remy felt only vaguely curious as to why.

"Is Jean-Luc dere?"

"Non, he's probably out gettin' drunk again," Remy sneered.  "Why?"

There was a long sigh on the other end.  "Mercy left me."

Remy laughed.  "'Bout time she came t' her senses!"  Henri had acquired all of Jean-Luc's traits and Mercy, his girlfriend, would often come to Remy for advice or comfort.  He had told her numerous times to ditch him and he was relieved to find that she had finally listened.

"Fuck you, Remy.  Just tell him I called."

"Right," Remy snorted.  "I'll try not t' forget."  Remy hung up the phone, not bothering to wait for a response, and went back to preparing dinner.  He was glad that Henri had elected to stay in New Orleans rather than come to Bayville with them.  It was bad enough having to deal with Jean-Luc.

The call from Henri reminded Remy that he had promised to call Belle tonight.  She was one of only two people he had ever let close to him back in New Orleans.  The other was his cousin Emil.  He hated being away from them and had already begun to miss them terribly.  He trusted them like he trusted nobody else except his mother. They were people he could talk with about his father or any other problems that might be going on and there were always seemed plenty of problems.  But, he was on his own now.  His mother had enough things to deal with, she didn't need to hear his own problems.  Like the fact that he was a mutant with an increasingly difficult power to control.  He would call Belle later after dinner and assure her that everything was going okay.

#

It was an hour before Roberto finally made it back to the mansion and, as he had guessed, Wolverine was waiting for him down in the danger room.  He grumbled to himself when the Professor's voice entered his mind and told him to go down there for an extra hour of training.  He put on his uniform and headed for the danger room, the whole time thinking that it was unfair that he should have to suffer through two punishments in one day for the same thing.

When Wolverine had finally finished trying to kill Roberto in hand to hand combat it was already time for supper.  Roberto rushed to take a shower and change; he didn't want to be late.  Not that he would get into trouble but those who were late often missed out on all the good food and were forced to eat whatever slop was left.

He arrived and took a seat next to Kurt who was already pilling his plate high with food.

"What?"  Kurt mumbled around a mouthful of food.  Roberto blinked at him but didn't answer and turned to fill his own plate.

Throughout dinner, Roberto noticed Kurt and Bobby sharing several embarrassed glances from across the table.  Bobby would look up, grin at Kurt and Kurt would drop his gaze a blush darkening his fur.  Roberto looked at the two of them and wondered what the heck was going on.  He knew they weren't telling him something.  From the way they were looking at each other, one would almost think they were flirting with each other.  But no, that would mean they were… And they couldn't be… that… Could they?  Roberto resolved to find out what was going on between the two boys.

#

Kurt sneaked carefully through the halls towards Bobby's room.  Why he was sneaking he wasn't really sure, it was not the first time that they had hung out in Bobby's room but it was the first time for this particular reason.

Two days ago, Bobby had cornered him in the library at the institute and hesitantly confessed to Kurt that he had a crush on him.  Kurt had been stunned to say the least and had stood speechless doing a pretty good imitation of a fish.  Bobby had started to turn away, shamefaced and dejected when Kurt had stopped him.  He simply couldn't understand how someone as popular and smart as Bobby could want someone like him.  He would have to be a complete fool to say no.  So he said yes the best way he could think of and kissed Bobby lightly on the lips.  Bobby's reaction had been more than ecstatic and Kurt had been surprised that he didn't start shouting out loud.

After Bobby had realized that Kurt was not going to turn him down he had lost all his shyness and quickly asked Kurt to meet him in his room in a couple of days so they could spend some time together.  Kurt had readily agreed and after about an hour the two had parted ways, deciding to keep the relationship a secret until they were on more solid ground.  Kurt could only hope that the Professor wouldn't figure it out before then.

Kurt knocked lightly on Bobby's door and entered when he heard the 'come on in' from Bobby.  Bobby was sitting on his bed and grinning ear to ear when Kurt stepped into the room.  Kurt couldn't help but smile back as he made his way over to Bobby and brushed his lips against the other boy's.  Bobby sighed happily into the kiss and wrapped his arms around Kurt's neck, pulling Kurt onto the bed next to him.  Kurt indulged them in a moment more of kissing before pulling back and smiling sweetly at Bobby.

"Mmmm, our first date," Bobby joked.

"It's not a date unless you take me somewhere," Kurt joked back.  Bobby looked at him in mock horror.

"Me take you out?  Nuh-uh, it would be you taking me out."

"Like I would spend my well earned money on you," Kurt shot back with a grin.

"Maybe I could convince you otherwise," Bobby whispered as he leaned in for another kiss. There lips had just barely brushed when the door was flung open and Roberto walked in.

"What the heck is going on… Ookay…"  He trailed off as the two boys jerked apart too late to hide what they were doing.  Roberto blinked at them in surprise before backing out of the room and mumbling an apology.

Bobby and Kurt looked at each other before breaking into giggles at the look of surprise on Roberto's face.

"We should go and make sure that he doesn't tell anyone," Kurt said, getting off the bed and hauling Bobby up with him.  They left the room and made their way to Roberto's.  They walked into the room without knocking and saw Roberto sitting on his bed, facing the window.  They shared a concerned glance.

"Uh, you okay, man?"  Bobby asked stepping up behind Roberto who hadn't acknowledged them when they walked into the room.  "You're not freaked out or anything, right?"

Roberto finally turned to look at them.  "No, just not what I was expecting to see when I walked through the door."

"So, you don't have a problem with us… being together?"  Kurt hoped not.  He didn't want to lose a friend over something as stupid as him liking guys.  He was relieved when Roberto shook his head.

"No, I don't have a problem with it at all.  How long have you two been together?"

"Since two days ago," Bobby answered.  Roberto looked at them taken aback.

"Could you not tell anybody yet?"  Kurt asked.

"'Kay, but why?"

"We want to wait until we're both comfortable with this before telling everybody."  Roberto nodded his understanding.

Bobby and Kurt stayed and talked for a while before leaving Roberto on his own.  It was close to lights out and they still had homework to do.  Roberto lay back on his bed; hands folded behind his head and stared up at the ceiling.  He couldn't help it and smiled as he thought about Bobby and Kurt.  With those two now collaborating together he could just imagine all the pranks that would erupt within the mansion.  He would have to lay low for a little while.  Those two were bad enough alone, combined they would be a sheer terror.  Then again, he could easily blackmail them into leaving him alone by threatening to tell their secret.  Cruel, yes, but it got him immunity from whatever their combined minds would unleash upon the mansion.

He had been honest when he said that he had no problem with them being together.  Actually, that was the problem.  When he had seen the two of them sharing that kiss, he had instantly wondered what it would be like to kiss another boy.  That thought confused him, he had never been interested in guys, he wasn't gay, he liked girls, always had.  So why had he thought about kissing another guy?  It bothered him.  His life was already complicated enough being a mutant, he didn't need to start liking men.  He thought about some of the girls at the mansion.  Jean, Kitty, Amara, all were beautiful women and he knew this.  So he definitely wasn't gay, he still liked girls.

That thought soothed him and he shut his eyes and tried to sleep.  What if he was bi?  His eyes snapped back open and he frowned.  Great…

#

A loud crash reverberated through the house, as if someone had fallen and knocked something over.  Remy groaned as he rolled toward the alarm clock to check the time, 2:53 AM.  Remy wondered what Jean-Luc had managed to knock over this time.  He listened carefully as Jean-Luc dragged himself up the stairs and towards the bedroom that he shared with Mary. He hoped that Jean-Luc would simply pass out without making any trouble.  After listening for any signs of trouble for about twenty minutes, Remy sighed with relief.  It would appear that there would be no trouble tonight.  He slipped back into sleep, wanting to get an early start in the morning.


	2. chapter two

Relwarc: Why there is nothing wrong with being bi!!  Bi is good, bi is great!!  And your right, it does broaden your horizons*grins*

Matt Bridel: I fixed the spacing, sorry 'bout that.  It uploaded weird and I was too lazy to bother with fixing it, but it's all good now!

Musashi Den: Black?  Flipped up hair?... Why I am afraid that you are totally and absolutely right!!  Heh…

Chapter Two

An annoying noise was blaring off to Remy's side and, after identifying it as his alarm clock, he reached over to turn it off.  The moment his hand touched the clock it exploded in a shower of sparks.  He jerked his hand back with a curse as a shard of plastic cut him.  It had been happening more often lately.  He would try to touch something or already be holding it and it would explode.  Up until a few months ago he had been able to control his powers perfectly but they were beginning to grow more powerful.  It was the reason his dad had insisted on leaving New Orleans.  Too many people knew that he had a mutant for a son and he was ashamed because of it.  Remy had been expelled from the high school there on the grounds that he was a dangerous mutant after he had charged his pen in class.  There had been a time when he would have been able to absorb the charge back into himself but they were too strong now and he couldn't hold it back.  It took all his concentration to stop the charges long enough for him to get somewhere safe.

He threw back the cover and forced himself up from the comfort of his bed.  He quickly got ready for the day, taking a quick shower and dressing.  Gathering his books he ran down the stairs into the kitchen.  His mother was there, already starting breakfast.  She had found a job the other day cleaning rooms.  Not the best job but it would do until a better opportunity came up.  Remy would try to find a part time job himself after school.

He helped her finish with the simple breakfast of bacon and eggs and saw her off when it was time for her to leave for work.  He would have to walk to the school as she had taken their only vehicle and he left only a few minutes after she had.

#

Roberto walked up behind the Professor, who was sitting at Cerebro, a look of concentration etched over his face.  He looked curiously at the computer's screen but saw nothing out of the ordinary.  The Professor seemed to relax and he let out a frustrated sigh.  Roberto decided to speak up.

"What's going on Professor?"

The Professor turned to regard him.  "Cerebro seems to have detected a new mutant in Bayville."  He sounded aggravated.

"I thought that was supposed to be a good thing," Roberto said confused.

"It would be if I could find him."  Roberto's confusion abruptly doubled.  "Their mind is shielded somehow."  The Professor paused a moment and concentrated again.  "It's almost like… static.  I cannot pinpoint an exact location."

"Anything I can do to help?"  Roberto offered, thinking that the Professor wouldn't take him up on the offer.

"Has there been anyone new at the school?"  Xavier seemed to be contemplating.

"Uh, yeah.  A new guy showed up yesterday," Roberto replied hesitantly.

"Have you noticed anything different about him?"

Roberto snorted.  "Only that he wears sunglasses inside and a trench coat in summer.  You don't think that he's…?"

"It seems likely.  I would like you to try and find out."

Roberto looked at him with huge eyes.  "What?  How am I supposed to do that?"

"Try to talk to him.  Get him to trust you and he may confide in you."

"You can't be serious!"

"I'm afraid that I am.  It will be good for you to meet some new people and it would contribute to the team.  You did offer your assistance," Xavier reminded him somewhat smugly.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd take it," Roberto groused.  He sighed and his shoulders slumped in defeat.  "Fine, I'll try to talk to the guy.  I don't think it will work, though."

"And why is that?"

Roberto shifted from foot to foot before answering.  "I might have been a bit of a jerk to him yesterday."

"Well now is your chance to make up for it."  The Professor smiled at the look of disbelief on Roberto's face.  "You had better hurry or you'll be late for school."

Roberto turned and headed dejectedly for the garage, hoping Scott hadn't left yet and would give him a ride as it was too late to start walking.

#

Roberto searched the halls when lunch came around, looking for the new kid, Remy, according to Amara and Jubilee.  He had not bothered to tell the others about the possibility that Remy was a mutant.  If the Professor wanted them to know then he could tell them himself.  Until then he would deal with this on his own, prove to Xavier that he could do it.  If he treated this as yet another challenge then maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Not finding Remy in the halls, he headed outside and looked around the grounds.  Finally he spotted Remy sitting alone under one of the tall birch trees that were scattered around.  Roberto was slightly surprised.  He would have expected the guy to be with all the other students, flirting with all the girls with that stupid accent of his.

Roberto gathered his resolve, took a deep breath and slowly approached Remy.  The other boy didn't look up until Roberto's shadow loomed over him.  There was a slight look of irritation on his face and Roberto braced himself for the conversation to come.  It didn't look like this would be easy.  When Roberto couldn't find anything to say Remy took the initiative.

"Can I help y', homme?"  The irritation was clear in his voice.

Roberto tried not to grind his teeth and swallowed his pride.  "I just wanted to… thank you for yesterday.  And say that I'm…" Oh God.  "Sorry for being a jerk," Roberto muttered the last.

Remy smiled as if he didn't really believe him but was willing to let it go.  "It's not a problem."  He seemed to think that would be the end of the conversation and went back to the book he was reading.  Roberto felt a flare of anger that he could be so easily dismissed but forced it back.

"Uh, what book are you reading?"  Oh God, he was so bad at this.  What was the Professor thinking?  He should have gotten Jean or Scott to do this!  Roberto had no clue what to say to this guy and he certainly wasn't good at making friends.

Remy looked up at him again with a frown.  "What do y' want?"  He sounded angry.

Roberto was beginning to get frustrated.  "I was just trying to be nice!  You don't look like you have anyone to hang with!"

"I don' need anyone to 'hang' wit'."  Remy got to his feet and brushed by Roberto, walking away.  Roberto stared after him in astonishment.  Now what was he supposed to do?

#

Remy could sense Roberto's eyes on him as he walked away.  He felt kind of bad for being a prick but socializing was not one of his better traits.  His father had never instilled a great sense of trust in him and he was wary to let others get close.  Besides that, he was a mutant.  Who would want to get close to him?  Only Belle and Emil had fully accepted him and he missed them terribly even if he had spoken with Belle only last night.  Even his mother didn't fully accept him being a mutant, tried to pretend it didn't exist.  He loved her but he knew that she was afraid of, or maybe for him, because of his 'devil' eyes.

He didn't need to bring anyone else into his torrid life; he would just get hurt by it.

#

Kurt and Bobby had to practically elbow their way through the crowds of people just to get to the snack counter at the movie theater.  Bobby had proposed the idea earlier to Kurt that they go out to the movies and Kurt had jumped at the chance to get away somewhere with Bobby.  It was impossible to be alone together at the mansion.  They left the mansion right after dinner, deciding on walking to the theater.

Now that they were finally there, they found themselves standing in line at the snack counter surrounded by a huge crowd.  At least there wasn't anyone here that they knew so it was kinda like being alone together.

"So, you're paying?"  Bobby hinted.

"You asked me, therefore you pay."

"Rats, now I won't be able to pay for the other date I have planned later," Bobby replied jokingly.

Kurt smiled at him.  "Don't worry I'll get the next one."

Bobby quickly paid for the drinks and popcorn as well as the tickets to the movie and they found some seats near the middle where there were less people.  After bickering over who got to hold the popcorn they finally made themselves comfortable as the movie started.  Kurt rested his head on Bobby's shoulder, while Bobby wrapped an arm around his shoulders and rested his cheek on Kurt's head.  They sat like that until the credits came up signaling the end of the movie.

They walked back from the movie talking about all manner of things until they inevitably got into a discussion on what pranks would be the best to pull.  They couldn't decide which would be better; dying Hank glow-in-the-dark pink or putting NAIR in Jean's shampoo.

#

The sound of laughter drifted down the hall and Roberto cocked his head to the side as it came closer.  It was followed a second later by Bobby and Kurt walking quickly down the hall towards him.  The occasional giggle escaped them as they talked in hushed tones about something.  Roberto's eyes widened and he ducked back into his room that he had just come out of.  The two boys passed him without even noticing that he was there.  Roberto stepped back into the hall and watched as they entered Bobby's room.  He wondered if the Professor would allow him to move into a hotel for the next couple of weeks.

He continued on his previous course down the hall, shaking his head and vowing to stay in his room until those two were finished with whatever they were plotting.  He soon found himself in front of Xavier's office and knocked.

"Come in, Roberto."  Roberto did so; he had grown used to the Professor always knowing who it was even without seeing them.  "What can I do for you?"  Xavier asked once Roberto had made himself comfortable in one of the chairs.

"I need to talk to you about that guy you wanted me to speak with.  Remy."

"Is that his name?  What would you like to talk about?"

"Couldn't you get someone else to do this?"  The Professor looked at him quizzically.  "The guy is a total jerk!  He completely blew me off at lunch!  Jean or Scott would be way better with this!"  Roberto had to restrain himself from waving his arms around like a lunatic.

"You can not give up, Roberto.  It takes time to get close to people.  It would do you good to learn some patience."

"I don't have patience!  He doesn't even like me!"  This time Roberto did throw his arms up in exasperation.

"There is probably a reason why he won't talk with you.  You have to look past what a person is willing to show and see what is truly there; do not be so quick to judge."  Roberto was about to protest but the Professor stopped him with a sharp glare.  He thought about what the Professor had said.  If Remy was a mutant then he could be afraid of people, maybe he had been hurt in the past.  Maybe the Professor was right and there was a reason.  Xavier saw the spark of understanding and smiled.  "You will try again?"

Roberto nodded.  "I still think someone else would be better though.  I'm no good at this being friends with people stuff."

"You're better than you think."  Roberto nodded noncommittally and exited the office.  He had to think of a way to get Remy to talk to him.


	3. chapter three

Chapter Three

The last week had gone by fairly smoothly, Remy had to admit.  School was easy, the kid's were mostly avoiding him by now although he had caught the one boy, Roberto he thought his name was, watching him more than once.  He had not seen much of Jean-Luc, which was always a plus.  It was hard finding a job but his mother told him not to worry about it, he was too young, he should be worrying about school.

He walked into the house announcing his arrival as he usually did, not surprised when he didn't get an answer.  His mother often stayed late at work and he couldn't blame her.  Walking into the living room, he was surprised to see Jean-Luc sprawled over the couch, looking like he had just woken up.

"Good t' see y' finally decided t' grace us wit' y' presence," Remy sneered at the man.  Jean-Luc hauled himself to his feet and glared at Remy.

"Y' shouldn't be talking back t' y' father like that, boy," Jean-Luc replied angrily.  Remy snorted but didn't want to provoke Jean-Luc further so he turned to the kitchen.  "What are y' making for supper, boy?"

"Not makin' anyt'ing.  I got other stuff t' do tonight."  Remy headed for the stairs, hoping to spend the rest of the evening in his room.

"Where's your mother?"

"Dunno.  Working," Remy replied shortly without turning to look at Jean-Luc.  He felt a harsh hand snatch him by the shoulder and wrench him around.  He had a moment to look into Jean-Luc's insane eyes before Jean-Luc backhanded him across the mouth so that he fell back against the wall behind him.  He glared back at Jean-Luc, fingering his now split lip before trying to move away.

"Y' look at me when I'm talkin' t' y'!"  Jean-Luc nearly shouted.  "Y' should learn t' respect your father!"  He had Remy by the shirt collar now, screaming into his face.

"Fuck y'!"  Remy wanted nothing more than to hit Jean-Luc back, to give Jean-Luc a taste of his own medicine so to speak.  But the last time he had struck out at Jean-Luc, the man had beaten his mother instead.  He couldn't take the chance that it would happen again.

He was forced back against the wall again when Jean-Luc struck out at him with a clenched fist, hitting him in the eye and darkening the bruise that was already there.  Remy cursed at the pain and slid down the wall.

"I'll be a back in a couple of hours an' I will expect something t' eat," Jean-Luc demanded.  When Remy didn't answer he kicked him in the side.

"Oui…"  Remy managed to gasp out, grasping at his side.  Jean-Luc turned and left, leaving Remy curled on his side in the hall.

Remy waited for the pain to subside before pushing himself to his feet and half staggering into the kitchen.  He grabbed a towel, dampening it with cool water and pressing it to his split lip.  He went back into the hallway and gazed into the mirror there.  He gingerly fingered around his eye, sucking in breath at the sting.  It was already beginning to bruise and by tomorrow it would be dark and spread over his cheekbone as well.  He sighed angrily, wondering once again why he even bothered staying.  His mother would never leave, maybe he should just go.  He couldn't leave her though, couldn't let her deal with this alone.  He shuffled back to the kitchen to start dinner when he heard a knocking on the door.  He ignored it.  Whoever it was would go away soon enough.  He gathered the things he would need and five minutes later the knock sounded again.  He gritted his teeth, who would be coming here anyway?  The knocking came again, more of a pounding this time however.  Remy tossed down the knife he had been holding and stomped over to the door, flinging it open.

"What de hell do y' want?!"  he shouted at the surprised boy on his doorstep.  He blinked as he registered who the boy was.

"To talk," Roberto said.  He was actually starting to enjoy himself a little as he was obviously starting to piss Remy off.  His amusement faded to shock when he noticed the red on black eyes, glowing lightly in anger.  He gasped out loud when he saw the dark, angry looking bruise over Remy's right eye.  That hadn't been there the last time he had seen Remy earlier at school and he would have been able to notice even with the glasses.  What had happened?

Remy mistook the intake of breath as fright and he realized that he had forgotten his glasses.  "Merde!"  He snapped his eyes shut and slammed the door.  How could he have been so stupid as to forget his glasses?  He leaned back against the door and squeezed his eyes shut, ignoring the pain the action caused.  He was surprised when he heard a soft tapping on the door.

"Remy?"

What did Roberto want?  Probably to tell him what a freak he was or to add to the bruises that he had already acquired that night.  He tried to ignore the persistent knocking.

"Remy, please open the door? I just want to talk," Roberto tried to reason.  He let out a relieved breath when the door cracked open an inch.  Remy looked him over suspiciously.  "Can I come in?"  Another suspicious look and Remy opened the door fully to allow Roberto entrance as he walked back towards the kitchen.  Roberto followed him, taking in the house.

"How did y' find me?"  Remy had thought he had made it pretty clear to Roberto that he didn't want him around.  Once back in the kitchen, Remy continued to prepare dinner.

"I followed you," Roberto replied smugly.  Remy looked at him in shock.

"What are y' my stalker now?"  Remy didn't understand why Roberto had not yet shown any fear or tried to hurt him.

"No, but we really do need to talk."

"Why?"  Remy was becoming frustrated.  Why did Roberto think that they had anything to talk about?  Why wasn't he running?  He hadn't even said anything about Remy's eyes.  He turned to Roberto with a perplexed look

"What happened to your eye?"  Roberto blurted out.  He knew it wasn't his business but something was telling him that this was wrong.  He had seen a man leave the house before he had come up to the door and could tell that he was furious just by looking at him.

"A fight."  Remy's eyes turned stubborn and Roberto knew that he would not be able to get anymore out of Remy on that subject.  If he tried Remy would kick him out and he still had to get to the point of his visit.  "What did you want to talk about?"  Remy was getting impatient.

Roberto decided he would just come out and say it.  He was no good at friends so he would just tell Remy about the Xavier Institute.  The red eyes had been a surprise but they didn't bother him and, now that he knew for sure that Remy was a mutant, he may as well tell him what was going on.

"The fact that we're both mutants."  Tact was not a word in Roberto's vocabulary.  Remy blinked once, and then twice, opened his mouth as if to say something then promptly shut it again.  He shook his head as if to clear it.

"What?"  he finally settled on.

Roberto had to stifle a laugh at Remy's clueless look.  "You're a mutant, right?"

"Oui…"

"Well so I am.  Do you follow so far?"  All he received for an answer was a glare.  "I go to a school for mutants; there are lots of us living there.  One of the teachers is a telepath; he found you and asked me to ask you if you would join us."

"So y' want me t' move into dis school-"

"It's more like a mansion but yeah."

"Okay, mansion for mutants.  Why?"

"It's a place where you would be accepted and learn how to control your powers."

Remy's interest sparked.  How he would love to control his powers and right then he wanted nothing more than to take Roberto up on his offer.  But… he couldn't leave his mother and knew that she would not come with him.  He couldn't go with Roberto and shook his head sadly.

"I can't."

Roberto could see in Remy's eyes that he wanted to come.  Remy had said that he couldn't come, not I don't want to; I can't.  "Why can't you come?"

"Jus' can'."  He could see the suspicion in Roberto's eyes and knew that Roberto was getting to close to the truth.  "Y' should go, I gotta get dinner ready."  He began ushering Roberto towards the door, ignoring the protests.  When they got to the door Roberto turned to face Remy.

"You don't have to make a decision right away.  Think about it for a bit.  " Roberto was beginning to think there was more to Remy than he knew, something didn't feel right about this and he didn't want to leave Remy here alone for some reason.  He still hadn't figured out the new bruises on 

Remy's face.

Remy looked down at Roberto's now almost pleading face and sighed inwardly."I'll t'ink about it, mais don' expect me t' change my answer."

Roberto couldn't ask for anything more and reluctantly walked away from the old house, heading towards mansion.  He needed to talk with the Professor about this.

#

As soon as Roberto had left, Remy headed back to the kitchen to finish with the chicken he had started.  He tried to ignore the tears that were clinging to his eyelashes.  There was no point in crying over something that could not be helped.

But, to be able to control his powers… He wouldn't have to live with the fear that he might inadvertently hurt someone or himself.  Beyond that, he craved to be accepted, to not have to live his life in fear of being discovered.  Roberto was offering him that chance and he wanted so badly to take it.

Damn his father for ruining yet another opportunity in his life!  Damn his mother for allowing it!  Maybe he should leave.  If she so foolishly refused to go with him then that was her problem.  Let her deal with Jean-Luc!

He did not notice when his anger started to take on the familiar crimson signature of his kinetic charge snaking out around the knife that he held.  It wasn't until the knife was glowing bright crimson that Remy took notice and, with a muffled curse, turned and threw it out the open window and into the back yard, the following explosion creating a crater in the ground.

He stared at the smoking crater in shock and despair.  The tears finally slipped silently down his face.  He didn't even jump when comforting hands touched his shoulders, just turned gratefully into his mother's arms and let her hold him.

#

Once again Roberto found himself outside the door to the Professor's office, raising his hand to knock against the wood.

"Come in, Roberto," the Professor called before he had the chance.  Roberto did so, taking a seat in his usual chair.

"I talked with Remy and he's a mutant but he said that he couldn't come here," Roberto quickly said.

"We cannot force people to come here.  If he is happier at home then we cannot do anything.   It is his choice," the Professor stated calmly. He was slightly surprised by the concern that was showing on Roberto's face.

"I don't think it is his choice.  He wants to come.  I saw the look in his eyes and for a moment I thought that he was going to say yes but he didn't.  He looked so, I dunno, sad I guess.  And there were bruises on his face.  Something just seems wrong."  Roberto didn't know how to explain this to the Professor.  He just knew that something was not right.

"It is not our place to become involved if he does not want us to."

"But what if-"

Xavier cut him off.  "Why don't you see if he will come here for training purposes only?  He can come a few times a week to work on his powers but still return home after the session."

Roberto's face seemed to light up.  "That's great, Professor!  I'll ask him tomorrow."  Roberto got up to leave but turned to look at the Professor before exiting the office.  "Thanks Professor."  The Professor smiled at him as he turned and ran out of the office.  Roberto was worried about Remy and Xavier was glad for it.  Roberto needed to get close to someone.  He had friends here but had never really connected with any of them.  Perhaps he could somehow connect with Remy.

#

Roberto quickly headed to his room, wanting the time to think alone.  Hopefully no one would disturb him.  Sitting by the window, he looked out over the back of the school grounds, watching some of the kids play basketball.

He had never been this worried about someone before and he didn't know if his worry was even founded.  There could be nothing going on at all.  Maybe Remy had just had a bad day and had gotten into a fight with some other kid like he said.  His gut told him otherwise though.

Besides that, didn't he hate Remy?  The guy was an anti-social prick, had made it clear that he didn't want anyone near him.  At least that's what Roberto had thought but the Professor had told him to look past the mask and today's encounter had shown him at least some of the truth.  Remy probably stayed away from people because of his eyes.  He had to show Remy that not everybody was afraid of them.  He certainly wasn't, he had seen much odder things living with the X-Men.  Roberto actually thought that his eyes were rather captivating, beautiful even and… He stopped, what the heck was he thinking?  He couldn't possibly be contemplating how gorgeous and intoxicating – God, stop that – Remy's eyes were.

He turned when the door opened, no one ever seemed to knock around this place, and none other than Bobby and Kurt came in.  The two were almost always together now.  They thought they were doing a good job of hiding their relationship but Roberto knew that everybody in the mansion had at least an inkling of what was going on between them.  He tried to smile at them but it came up short.  He could tell by the concerned glances they were giving him.

"What's up, sun-boy?"  Bobby asked.

"It's nothing," Roberto dismissed.

"You shouldn't lie, man; you're way too bad at it."  Roberto glared at him.

"Just worried about somebody is all."  Bobby and Kurt both got huge eyes.

"You're worried about somebody?  Holy crap!  This is a first, who are you worried about?"

"Never mind," Roberto replied angrily.

"Come on, share with your friends," Bobby teased before Kurt hit him in the back of the head.  "Ow, what was that for?"

"Could we try to be serious?"  Kurt said vaguely irritated.

"Sheesh, no need to get violent."  Bobby continued to rub the back of his head.  Roberto shook his head but smiled at the boys' antics.

"I'm worried about Remy if you must know."

Kurt looked confused.  "That new guy?  Why?"  They still didn't know that Remy was a mutant and Roberto didn't think that Remy would appreciate his telling everybody.

"Never mind, it's not important."

"It's okay to talk to us you know," Kurt said.

"Drop it, okay?"  He was starting to get angry.

"Maybe we could help-" Roberto got angrily off the bed and stalked over to the door.

"I said forget about it.  Can you guys not take a hint?"  He slammed the door as he left.  Bobby looked down at Kurt who was sitting on the bed.

"Look what you did," he said shaking his head in mock sadness.  Kurt glared at him.  "What?" Bobby said in all innocence.  Kurt sighed and rolled his eyes before pulling Bobby onto the bed next to him.

"Do you even know the meaning of the word serious?"  Kurt asked, although not all that seriously himself.

"I happen to be a very serious type of guy!"  Bobby replied in mock outrage.  Kurt raised his eyebrows in disbelief.

"You?  And what, pray tell, are you ever serious about?"

Bobby leered at him, wrapping his arms Kurt's waist to pull him closer.  "You," he replied huskily before claiming Kurt's lips in a bruising kiss leaving them both breathless by the time he pulled away.  Kurt moaned at the loss of Bobby pressed against him and, grabbing Bobby by the collar, pulled him back.

"Stay," a whispered plea that Bobby couldn't resist and didn't want to.  He pressed back into Kurt again, pushing him back on the bed, tongues twining and hands roaming.  Kurt moaned when a hand slipped beneath his shirt and began tracing circles over his stomach and working up to his chest to tease the hard nipples there.  Kurt groaned and arched up against Bobby, wanting greater contact.  Kurt let his own hands slide down Bobby's back to cup his ass, squeezing gently and Bobby moaned his own pleasure, dropping his head to lavish Kurt's neck, loving the soft fur.

Kurt wrapped a leg around Bobby's waist, bringing them closer together and thrust up against Bobby, their erections grinding together through the denim of their pants causing waves of pleasure to flow over them so that Kurt did it again.  Bobby thrust back and turned his attention back to Kurt's mouth, ravishing it.

Moans and harsh breathing filled the room, their minds on nothing but each other and the pleasure they were feeling, hoping vaguely that no one would open the door and walk in.  With a harsh cry that was muffled by Bobby's mouth, Kurt came followed a moment later by Bobby.  Kurt let his leg drop from around Bobby's waist but neither made any move to get up, just lay there letting their breathing get back to normal and coming down off the high.

After a moment, Bobby lifted his head to let his forehead rest on Kurt's.  "Wow, I have never done anything like that with anybody," he said a little nervously.  Kurt brushed his bangs back and kissed him lightly.

"Me neither.  I'm glad that it was with you, though."  There was sincerity in Kurt's tone and eyes and Bobby smiled before kissing him and rolling off of him.

"Me too."


	4. chapter four

Hey, mes amis, *gasp* look!  It's chapter four!  Ha, bet none of you figured that out, it's a good thing I'm here to tell you… Thanks again for the reviews, glad you're liking Bobby and Kurt, I figured somebody deserved to get a little action seeing as how Remy and Roberto are so damn clueless and somebody needs to be having a little fun.  Not much Kurt/Bobby in this chapter *sniff* They'll be in the next one more though, I think, uh, God, can't remember… Anyway, please enjoy and review:D

Chapter Four

Roberto found Remy under his usual tree at lunch the next day.  He was leaning back against it, not moving, almost seeming asleep.  He tilted his head to the side when Roberto approached.

"De answer is still no," Remy said shortly.  Roberto would not be put off by Remy's loner act this time and sat down beside him.  Remy glared tiredly at him but did not say anything against it.

"How about just coming to the school a few times a week to work with your powers?"

Remy thought about that for a few minutes.  It would give him the chance for control and he could return home afterwards.  Jean-Luc would never have to know what he was doing.  He nodded slowly and Roberto's eyes lit up in happiness.

"Oui, I'll come."  Remy noticed the happy look on Roberto's face and turned to look at him more fully.  "Why do y' care so much?"

"Uh, we care about all mutants at the institute," Roberto said quickly.  Remy's face seemed to drop.  Roberto didn't actually care about him; he would have done this for any mutant that came along.  Remy turned his head back away and leaned it against the tree.  "If you want to meet after school, I'll take you to the mansion and show you around a bit, introduce you to some of the other mutants," Roberto suggested.

"Don' know," Remy whispered but seemed to consider it.  "I guess."

"Great!"  Roberto didn't make any move to leave though.  Remy looked back at him, head tilted to the side.  "Do you mind if I stay?"

"Huh?  Uh, I guess, if y' want," Remy stammered.  Roberto grinned at him and Remy blinked from behind his sunglasses.  Why was Roberto staying?  He had gotten what he wanted; Remy was coming to the mansion.  Did he care after all?

#

Remy shifted his weight from foot to foot, nervously fidgeting with his hands as he waited for Roberto in the parking lot.  He couldn't wait to get started on learning how to control his powers but at the same time he was nervous about meeting other mutants.

A yawn caught him by surprise though it shouldn't have.  He'd had to spend half the night fixing the crater in the back yard he had caused.  His dad had been pretty pissed about it.  Luckily though Jean-Luc had only yelled at him for an hour.

"If you're tired, we can wait until tomorrow."

Remy spun towards the voice a little too quickly and ended up slamming right into Roberto who had to grip Remy's arms to keep them both from falling.  Remy mentally berated himself; he had to start paying more attention.

"Are you okay?"  Roberto asked, concerned.

"Oui and I'm fine doin' dis now."

"'Kay, we'll have to walk though, it'll take a bit."

"Dat's okay.  Don' mind walking."

Roberto led the way through the parking lot and, once they were on the sidewalk heading towards the mansion, they walked side by side in companionable silence.  Roberto couldn't help but steal covert glances at Remy as they walked.  The bruising was still there and Roberto was determined to find out what had happened to Remy.

It took them an hour to reach the school.  Roberto had spent most of the walk telling Remy about the other mutants at the school and what they could do.  Remy had seemed fascinated by the different powers they all possessed and had given Roberto a demonstration of his own.  Remy had also been impressed with the size of the mansion and it took Roberto another hour before he felt that he had given Remy a complete tour.  Roberto also told him about the lower levels but couldn't take him down until they spoke with the Professor.  That was where Roberto was taking Remy now.

"Come in," the Professor said as they walked up to the door.  Remy looked at Roberto, an eyebrow raised above his glasses.

"Oh, he's a telepath," Roberto said by way of explanation as to how the Professor knew they were there.  Remy looked a little worried.  "Don't worry, he won't read your mind without permission," Roberto reassured.  Remy nodded his head relieved.  He didn't need Xavier finding out about Jean-Luc as he would probably try to get Remy away.

They entered the room and took a seat in front of the Professors desk.  Remy tried not to show how nervous he really felt.

"Mr. LeBeau, welcome," Xavier said reaching a hand across the desk.  Remy stood hesitantly to shake it.

"It's Remy, please."

"Remy, then," the Professor agreed.  "I'm glad that you've decided to take advantage of the help that we are offering here."

"Don' really have a choice."

"Why is that?"

"Can' control my powers.  Don' want t' hurt nobody."  The Professor nodded in understanding.

"What are your powers?"  He wondered if it had anything to do with his eyes. The young man had to be wearing glasses for a reason.

Instead of telling him, since Remy didn't know how to explain it, he took a card from one of his pockets and lightly charged it with kinetic energy.  It glowed a dull crimson and he tossed it up.  There was a small explosion but it did no damage.  The Professor looked at him in interest.

"Could you make the explosion bigger?"  Remy nodded.  "Is there a reason why you are wearing glasses?"  Again Remy nodded but made no move to remove the glasses or explain why.  He was curious to know but did not want to push Remy for too much information.  "I will set up a training schedule for you.  If you would come back tomorrow we can start then."

"Bien, merci Professor," Remy said as he and Roberto stood to leave the room.  The Professor gave a smile and nod of his head in return.

#

Roberto suggested grabbing something to eat from the kitchen and Remy hesitantly agreed.  They had been fortunate not to run into any of the other kids yet and Remy had hoped to keep it that way.  Roberto had explained that most of them had been down in the Danger Room training.  Remy knew that he would have to meet them eventually though, so there was no point in putting it off.  They could hear the voices of several people before they even reached the kitchen.  Walking in they saw three other teens there, two of whom Remy recognized from his classes.  They greeted Roberto and looked at Remy curiously.  Roberto grabbed Remy's arm and pulled him forward slightly.  He failed to notice the flinch when he reached for Remy's arm.

"This is Remy; he's going to be training here.  Remy, this is Scott, Jean and Kurt."  Roberto quickly made the introductions.

"Welcome to the institute," Scott said and shook Remy's hand.  Jean did similar and Kurt saluted him.  Roberto headed for the fridge and started gathering up some food.  After a moment, Remy decided to help him so that they could get out of the kitchen faster.  While they did this, Scott and Jean asked him questions, which he answered, about his mutant powers.  Remy was beginning to get annoyed by the questioning and was relieved when he and Roberto finished with the food.  With a quick 'see ya later' to the three in the kitchen they headed for Roberto's room.

Once there, they ate in silence too hungry to bother with anything else.  About half way through there was a knocking on the door.  Roberto knew who it was immediately.  He had seen the curious looks that Kurt was throwing at them.  And where Kurt was, Bobby was.

"Come on in, guys."  They looked up as Kurt and Bobby walked in.  Remy's eyes got huge and his eyebrows rose into his hairline when he saw Kurt.  He nearly choked on his sandwich in surprise.  Kurt looked down at his now blue and furry form.

"What?"  he asked innocently.  It was a moment before Remy replied.

"Merde, y' were not blue before.  What de hell is goin' on?"  The shock was evident in his voice.

"I don't know what you're talking about.  I've always been blue, maybe your eyes are going?"  At Remy's perplexed look, the others couldn't help but start laughing at him.  Realizing he was the target of some joke, although he didn't know what it was, Remy tried to glare threateningly but gave up when he realized they couldn't see it from behind his glasses.  He sighed and looked indignant.

It took a few moments but they showed Remy the image inducer that Kurt used. Remy made him demonstrate a few times before he was satisfied.  In the end, they were all sitting on the bed, no tension between them, just friends hanging out.  Remy was vaguely shocked when Bobby pulled Kurt to him in a hug.  At Remy's interested look, Roberto explained.

"They've been dating for over a week now.  No one else knows though."  He smiled.  "At least that's what they think."  Remy watched the two and began to feel strangely alone.  Roberto noticed the changed expression.  "You don't have a problem with it, do you?"

"Non," Remy said immediately.  He was telling the truth and for some reason Roberto felt immensely relieved.  The conversation moved on to other things.  There never seemed to be an uncomfortable pause they just let the conversation flow.  It wasn't until an hour later, when Remy glanced over at the clock on the desk, that he noticed how late it was and cursed.  The others looked at him in confusion.  He smiled apologetically at them.

"Sorry, mes amis mais, it's late an' I gotta go."  He stood from the bed and after saying goodbye again quickly left and headed for home.

#

The next day found Remy looking around at a large metal room, shocked and a little suspicious.  They had called this place the Danger Room but all it looked like to Remy was a plain, boring metal room.  How were they supposed to train in here?

Roberto was with him and he took comfort from the other mutant's presence.  He still didn't know too many of the other mutants around the place and this was to be his first training session.  He looked back towards the door when he heard it slide open.  Xavier and two other mutants came in.  He recognized one as Scott but could not place the woman that was with him.

"Remy, I assume that you have already met Scott," Xavier said and Remy nodded.  "And this is Ororo Munroe, otherwise known as Storm.  She can control the weather.  She and Scott will be helping you train."  Again Remy nodded and greeted them both.  Roberto had already explained Scott's power to him when Remy had asked about Scott's glasses.  "I've told them what your powers are, today we will work on discovering just how much control you do have and tomorrow we can start on refining that control."

Remy was nervous but agreed.  Xavier and Roberto left the Danger Room and headed for the observation room overhead leaving Remy with Scott and Ororo.  He watched, entranced, as Ororo rose into the air on her winds.  Xavier had explained to him earlier what he was to do in this session: Attack them with everything he had so they could discover his power and just how well he used it.  Storm and Cyclops would only be defending themselves not attacking him back.

He took a deep breath as Storm and Cyclops readied themselves and stepped back a few paces, retrieving a hand full of playing cards from his trench pocket.  He charged the cards and tossed them at Cyclops, grabbing more with his other hand to hurl in Storm's direction.  He heard a curse from Scott as he unleashed an optic blast, hoping to destroy the cards before they reached him.  The beam swept through the cards, several explosions following.  Storm simply dropped her altitude and let the cards sail over her head.

Not wanting to give them much recovery time, Remy hurled more cards at Storm, forcing her lower to the ground.  In his other hand he held two cards which he charged until they glowed a brilliant red, throwing them at the last possible second towards Scott.  Not directly at him, he didn't want to hurt Scott just knock him down.

He underestimated the strength of the explosion, though, and Scott was lucky that he was able to dive away from the blast.  It was strong enough to shake the Danger Room and leave the floor and wall where it hit black and smoking. Scott looked over at him wide eyed.

"Holy shit," he exclaimed.

*Cyclops!*  The Professor chastised him in his mind.

"Sorry, Professor."

"Merde!  I'm sorry, Professor, I didn't mean t' make it so big."  Remy looked down, ashamed at his lack of control.

"Don't worry about it Remy.  That is what you are here to learn," the professor reassured him.  Remy looked up at the observation booth and smiled, relieved, at the Professor.

"Merci, Professor."

"I believe that will be enough for today.  If you would come back tomorrow, we can begin working more on your actual control," Xavier said.  Remy nodded up to him.  He walked with Scott and Storm over to the large metal doors, meeting Roberto on the way out.  After saying good bye to Scott and Ororo, Remy turned to Roberto with a grin.

"How's dat for power, non?"  Roberto shook his head.

"You cocky son of a-  We'll see who has more power when-"  Roberto was interrupted by a throat clearing behind them.  They turned to see the Professor staring at them reproachfully.

"It's not about how much power you have but how well you can control it," he said in a lecturing tone.

"Oh come on, Professor, we were just joking."

Xavier smiled fondly at them, glad to see that they were getting along.  He turned his gaze to Remy.  "Will you be joining us for dinner tonight?"

Remy shook his head.  "Non, got work t' do at home," he explained.  "Will be back tomorrow t'ough."

"Very well, we shall see you tomorrow."  He began to leave but looked back at Roberto.  "Are you coming Roberto?"

"I'll just walk Remy out."  Xavier smiled and left.  "Come on, Rem."

"Rem?"

"Uh, I had to shorten the name somehow."

"Remy ain't short enough for y'?"

"I could call you Rems," Roberto teased.  Remy looked at him in horror.

"Mon Dieu, please don'."

"Rem it is then," Roberto said, walking away.  Remy trailed behind, shaking his head.


	5. chapter five

Sigh, once again I'm sorry for the wait, damn, I'm getting bad with updates lately.  But I'll try and get the chapters out at least a bit faster from now on, okay?

Relwarc, thanks for the advice and I will be keeping it in mind for future chapters and stories:)

Please enjoy and don't forget to review, all comments welcome…

Chapter Five

The training sessions seemed to fly by for Remy.  After the Professor had spent a good twenty minutes marveling over Remy's mind, which he could not read due to the psychic interference created by his charging power, and Remy had been introduced to the rest of the mutants, Remy spent forty-five minutes in the Danger Room with team leader, Cyclops, every evening.  The Professor had assigned Cyclops to help him because they were both energy converters.  Xavier remained in the observation room to give help when it was needed.

Roberto had given Remy a demonstration of his powers at Remy's insistence.  All that had escaped Remy was a breathless 'whoa' when he had seen Roberto powered up.  He couldn't believe how striking Roberto had been and had stared enthralled at him for several minutes.  That had been on his second training session and, ever since then, Remy had found himself watching Roberto more.

It was now the third week since he had started training at the institute.  Kurt, Bobby, and Roberto had somehow managed to find a way past his defenses and were quickly becoming good friends.  Roberto was beginning to want more, though.  It had become routine for him to watch all of Remy's training sessions; watching the way he moved, quick and graceful as a cat, muscles rippling through the fabric of the new uniform that he wore, the grin on his face when he succeeded in something new.  Remy often stayed for Roberto's sessions as well, enchanted by Roberto's power and grace when he fought.

In the weeks that Remy had been at the mansion, their attraction had gone beyond physical and turned to something more.  Roberto knew now that his first assessment of Remy had been horribly wrong.  Once Remy had begun to trust him, they had gotten along better than Roberto managed to get along with most people.  After training, Remy usually stayed and they would spend the rest of the evening together.  They were getting closer and Roberto could tell that Remy was just as interested in him as he was in Remy but he was too damn much of a coward to do anything about it.

Roberto was starting to think that he knew why Remy was so nervous around people.  Roberto saw the bruises that would adorn Remy's face or arms on occasion even though Remy tried his best to hide them.  Roberto had tried to bring it up before but Remy had shut him out, refusing to say anything about it or coming up with some bullshit lie.  Roberto didn't buy Remy's explanations for a moment but couldn't force the truth out of Remy either.  Even after three weeks, Remy still didn't trust him enough to let Roberto help.

#

Roberto was snapped out of his daydreaming when Bobby snapped his fingers in front of his face.  He blinked his eyes and looked up at Bobby in confusion.  Bobby rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, sun-boy," Bobby said in amusement.

"What are you talking about?"  Roberto said irritated at the interruption of his thoughts and the stupid nickname.

"The bell rang five minutes ago, man.  Let's get out of here or would you rather hang out in school for the rest of the day?"  Roberto didn't bother with an answer and rose from his seat.  They met Kurt outside the room in the hallway and headed for their lockers together.  Once there, they found Remy leaning against the lockers and drumming his fingers impatiently.  He looked at them with a smile as they approached.

"About time y' guys got here, what were y' doin'?"  he asked, moving so that Kurt could get into his locker.

"Roberto here wouldn't stop daydreaming," Bobby said nudging Remy in the side.  "Who do you think he could be daydreaming about?"  Bobby winked at Remy.  Roberto glared at Bobby, trying not to blush.  Remy glanced down at his feet.  Kurt shot a death glare at Bobby.

"You know what we were thinking?"  Kurt said trying to dispel the uncomfortable moment.  He didn't understand why these two hadn't gotten together; any idiot could see that they wanted each other.

"I'm not so sure I want to know what you two were thinking," Roberto said looking at the two of them in suspicion.

"We were thinking," Bobby continued, ignoring Roberto's comment.  "That we should tell everybody about our relationship."

"It's about time, everybody knows anyway."  Bobby looked at him in shock.

"No way!  We were so careful, they can't know," he practically whined.  Both Remy and Roberto looked at him like he was an idiot.  "Oh shut up," Bobby mumbled.

Roberto laughed at him and turned to leave.  "Come on, let's get out of here, the Professor wanted to talk with you today, Remy," Roberto said, leading the way down the hall.  Remy nodded and followed with Bobby and Kurt.

#

Sam's ears perked up as he heard voices and footsteps entering the room next to his.  He listened for a moment, trying to determine exactly who it was.  Amara looked at him curiously.  She too had heard the voices but didn't see what all the sudden interest was about.  She was about to speak when he looked at her with a triumphant smirk on his face.

"Okay, now I have to know what's going on," she stated.

"Listen," he answered simply and pressed his ear to the wall.  She looked at him oddly but did likewise, wanting to know what was happening that she was missing out on.  There was silence and then voices talking again.  She shook her head and looked back at Sam again.

"I don't get it.  It's Kurt and Bobby talking, what's so amazing about that?"  She was definitely missing something here and it would be pretty pathetic if Sam, clueless innocent Sam, figured something out before her.  Especially if it was something that would make good gossip.

Sam rolled his eyes at her.  "Haven't you noticed how much time they've been spending together?"  he asked.  She shrugged her shoulders.  So what if they were spending time together, isn't that what friends normally did?  "And how close they've been?  Literally?"  She looked at him clueless.  "Come on, Amara!  Put it together!  They're dating," Sam finally said.

"Bobby and Kurt?"  she squeaked out.  Sam nodded, grinning.

"Yeah, they think they're hiding it but I'm pretty sure everybody knows."  He smirked at her.  "Well, everybody except you of course."  She smacked him in the arm.

"Shut up, hayseed."  She couldn't believe she had let this slip by her.  The door opened then and Ray walked in.  He looked between the two of them.  Sam was smirking and Amara looked perplexed.

"What's going on?"  he asked moving over to his bed.

"I just told Amara about Kurt and Bobby."

"You mean you didn't know?"  Ray asked incredulously, he had thought everybody knew.

"You mean even you knew?"  That's it, she was definitely slipping, she would have to make a bigger effort to keep up with the gossip from now on.

"Everybody knows," Ray exclaimed.  "Hey, you know what we should do?"  It was a rhetorical question but Sam and Amara shook their heads anyway.  "We should start a pool."  All he got were quizzical looks.  He sighed and tried again.  "We should bet on when they're finally going to come out and tell everyone.  We all put five bucks into the pot and the one who picks the right time and day, or the closest to it, wins all the cash," Ray explained. Sam and Amara's faces lit up with understanding and interest.

"Cool!  Count me in," Sam said.  Amara also nodded her head.  Ray grabbed a paper and pen, wrote down the times they wanted and collected their five dollarsas well as his own.  He put the money in a desk drawer for safe keeping.

"Come on, let's go and see who else wants in."

#

Xavier smiled and nodded as Remy came into his office.  Remy took a seat and waited expectantly for Xavier to begin.  After the first week, he had finally taken off his glasses, allowing the rest of the X-Men to see his mutant eyes.  The Professor was glad for it; he hoped that it meant Remy was becoming more comfortable with them, that he trusted them more.

"I'd just like to say that you are doing very well in your training so far," Xavier began.  "Already you have learned the basics of control and should no longer charge things unless you want to.  It will take more work to get the fine control that you will need though.  Your mind is very well shielded as well.  Whenever I try to read it, all I get is static."  Psychic interference the Professor had once told Remy.  "It also seems to shield those who are near to you as well.  With time and training you could become very powerful, you could be a great asset to the X-Men."

"Non," Remy shook his head and the Professor looked on with interest.  "Only need t' know enough t' control it.  I don' need t' make myself more powerful, I just don' want t' hurt anyone."

The Professor nodded.  "I understand your fears but please consider it?"  Remy nodded his head without commitment.  He wouldn't have the time to learn that much control anyway.  In a couple more weeks Jean-Luc would grow suspicious as to what he was doing.  Remy had told Jean-Luc that he had a job but he couldn't keep up that lie forever, not when his father realized that he wasn't bringing in any paychecks.  Xavier dismissed him and he met with Roberto in the hall.

"Have y' been out here waiting for me de whole time?"  He had been in Xavier's office for at least thirty minutes.

"Uh, yeah, thought I'd walk home with you."  Remy laughed softly and they headed for the main entrance.

#

Kurt snickered quietly as Scott walked by the plant he was hiding behind, unable to hold it back.  He readied the mud filled water balloon as Scott paused, and waited for the perfect moment to strike.  Just because Bobby and he were going to do the responsible thing and tell everybody about their relationship didn't mean they couldn't be creative or have some fun.

Scott tilted his head to the side, he was sure he had heard a noise.  After a moment he dismissed it and turned to walk away, oblivious to the danger he was facing.  With Scott's back facing him, Kurt took his opportunity.

"Hey, Scott!"  Kurt yelled, jumping out from behind the plant and hurling the water balloon at him.  "Catch!"

"What the-?"  Scott managed to get out before he raised his arms in reflex and the balloon splattered into them, showering him with muddy water.  Scott shook himself off in disgust and anger.  He saw Kurt disappear around the corner, laughing madly and took off after him.  "Kurt!  Get back here!"

Kurt looked over his shoulder to make sure that Scott was following him.  He led Scott down the hallway that led to the bedrooms, jumping onto the wall so he could run along it.  He spotted Bobby at the other end of the hall and quickened his pace to get to him.  He could hear Scott's footsteps pounding to catch up.

Scott also spied Bobby up ahead and pushed himself to go faster.  It never occurred to him to wonder why Kurt didn't just teleport to safety; he was too focused on getting revenge.  He took another step forward and felt his foot skid out from under him as he hit a clear sheet of ice.

"Yaaaahhhhhhhhh…"  They watched in amusement as Scott pin wheeled his arms, trying to regain his balance but failing.  His back hit the ground with a crash.  Kurt and Bobby winced in sympathy before Kurt teleported them both to safety.

Lying on the floor, Scott found himself looking up at the ceiling.  Taped there was large poster proclaiming Bobby's love for Kurt and vice versa in big red letters.  Scott hauled himself off the floor and shook his head in exasperation.  He had wondered when those two were going to come out but he had never imagined it would be like this.

"You could have just told me!"  Scott yelled and heard laughter coming from the roof through the open window in the hall.

"One down," Bobby said.  Kurt grinned and they began plotting who would be next.

#

"What did the Professor want to talk with you about?"  Roberto asked curiously.  They had been walking in silence for a few minutes now.  Remy seemed depressed about something and Roberto was determined this time to find out what was going on.  It was one of the reasons he had decided to walk with Remy today.

"Wanted me t' join de X-Men."

"But you're not going to," It wasn't a question.

"Non."

"Remy, come here."  Roberto grabbed Remy's hand and drug him over to a nearby bench, pushing him down on it.  He sat next to Remy but didn't release his hand.  Remy couldn't run if he was holding on.  "What is going on?"

Remy looked at him in surprise.  "Don' know what y' talkin' about, homme."

Why did Remy have to be so stubborn?  He just wanted to help.  "I know there is something going on Remy and I hoped that you would tell me yourself.  I see the bruises Remy, why won't you talk to me?"

"Jus' leave it, Roberto," Remy bit out.  He and the others only cared about Remy because he could be a powerful mutant, nothing more.  Why couldn't they just let this drop?

"I can't leave it, Remy!  It's your father isn't it?  Or maybe your mother?  Why don't you fight back, you could-"

"Fuck off!  Y' don' know what y' talking about so just stay de hell away from me," Remy practically yelled and stood to walk away.

"Can't you see that I care about you?"  Roberto stood, frustrated.  Remy spun around and threw his arms up.

"Why?!  Why do y' care so much?!"

"Because I think I love you!"  Roberto shouted without thinking.  "Shit, Remy…"  he tried to redeem himself but couldn't think of anything to say.  He wasn't really sure that he wanted to take it back.  Remy stared at him in shock for a moment and Roberto chewed his lip nervously, unable to meet Remy's eyes.

"Y' love me?"  Remy said in a choked whisper.  Roberto didn't look up, just nodded his head sullenly.  "Roberto, I, merde, I can' do dis.  I'm sorry," Remy said as he backed away then turned and ran.  He wasn't worthy of Roberto's love, didn't deserve it.

Roberto looked after his retreating form dejected.  But what had he expected?  That Remy would just be okay with having another guy suddenly confess his love for him?  He had been deluding himself, thinking that Remy actually felt something more than friendship for him as well.  Roberto snorted in disgust at himself and stood on the sidewalk for a moment not knowing what to do.  Eventually, he sighed and turned back towards the mansion.  He had really screwed up now.  He would probably never see Remy again.


	6. chapter six

Why yes, yes I am a little obsessed over Remy.  Hmmm, is it that obvious?  Ah well, I do actually have a couple of ideas that don't involve him *shocked gasp* and I will get around to writing them eventually….

Will Remy become Gambit?  Um, I dunno… I guess you'll just have to wait and see :P

Kurt and Bobby will play more jokes in the future chapters as it is fun.  I have some good ones planned :D

Chapter Six

Roberto trudged up the stairs and headed for Bobby's room, hoping that he and Kurt would be there.  He desperately needed someone to talk to and they might understand.  He threw the door open without bothering to knock and walked in.  There were startled shrieks from the bed and Roberto raised an eyebrow at them.

"Would you two quit pawing each other for a moment?  I need to talk to you."  He walked up to the bed and flopped down on it, next to the now scowling boys.  Kurt rolled himself off of Bobby and looked over at Roberto, curious as to why he had actually sought them out.

"What can we do for you?"  Kurt asked.  Roberto looked kinda like someone had just died.

"I really fucked up with Remy."

"How?"  Bobby asked, for once serious when he heard the defeated tone in his friend's voice.

"I guess we had a fight and I told him that I loved him, he… ran…"  Roberto was at a loss for words.  All he wanted to do was break down and sob but he refused.  "Now, I don't know what to do."  He snorted softly.  "He probably hates me."

"Talking to him and telling him how you feel might help."

"I already did that and look what happened!  He's probably disgusted by me!  He could have anyone, why would he ever settle for me?"

"I happen to know that he's not disgusted with you," Bobby said.  Roberto looked at him.  "Are you blind?  Every time he looks at you even a fool could see how much he cares about you!"

"Then why did he run?"  Roberto asked helplessly.

"You'll never know if you don't go and talk to him.  At least that way you'll know what he thinks and you can stop wondering," Bobby said.  Kurt looked at him with big eyes.  "What?" Bobby asked truly clueless.

"That was actually good advice."  Kurt said in awe.  "I'm shocked."

"Ha ha ha," Bobby said back in a monotone voice.  Kurt ignored Bobby and turned back to Roberto.

"Bobby is right, though.  You should talk to him, see what's going on.  Don't want to drive yourself crazy wondering."

Roberto nodded and stood.  "Thanks guys."  He felt better than he had before though he was still nervous.  He resolved to go and speak with Remy right away.  He would at least assure Remy that he didn't need to worry about Roberto telling anyone anything.

"Try knocking next time!"  Bobby shouted as Roberto left the bedroom.  He turned back to Kurt.  "Now where were we?"  Kurt smirked at him and the sound of a zipper opening filled the room.  Bobby groaned in pleasure.

"Right about here," Kurt purred.

"Actually I think you skipped ahead a bit," Bobby half groaned.  Kurt cocked his head to the side.

"Want me to stop?"  Kurt asked, pausing the motions of his hand.

"Only if you fancy an ice pick through your skull," Bobby said pleasantly.  Kurt chuckled but continued his ministrations.  God how he loved making Bobby squirm.

#

Remy rushed up the stairs, thankful that the house was empty, collapsing on his bed when he reached his room.  How could he have been so stupid?  He shouldn't even have spoken with Roberto let alone gone to that school.  He had already let Roberto get too close and now he knew about Jean-Luc.  Roberto would want to get involved but by trying to help he would only make things worse.

That was if he even wanted to be near Remy after he found out what a weak and pathetic loser he really was.  He would leave, laugh at him.  That realization hurt more than it should have.

He needed someone to talk to and reached over to the bedside table for the phone, quickly punching in Belle's number.  He was relieved when someone picked up the other end.

"Belle?"  he asked quickly.

"Remy?"  She could tell by his tone that something was upsetting him.  "What's wrong?"

"Never could hide anyt'ing from y', Belle."

"Don' change de subject an' tell me what's wrong," she demanded.

"T'ink I messed up, Belle."  At her questioning sound he proceeded to tell her about Roberto.  When he finished, Belle spoke to him in a chiding tone.

"You're shutting people out again, Remy, an' it's not healthy.  Y' need somebody t' be dere for y' Remy an' it can' be Emil or me anymore.  He could help y' if y' were t' give him a chance."  She'd had this conversation with Remy before and knew exactly what he would say next.

"I'm not worthy of-"

"Y' are more dan worthy of his friendship, even love.  Dat's your fat'er talking, Remy, don' listen t' him.  Let Roberto in, Remy.  Let him support y', help y'.  Y' need dis an' you'd be a fool t' throw away a perfectly good friendship because of Jean-Luc.  Do y' want him t' be responsible for ruining yet another t'ing in your life?"

"Non," Remy whispered.

"Den what are y' doing still talking t' me?  Go an' find him!"

"T'ank y', Belle."

"Sometimes y' just need t' be kicked in de ass."  He could hear her smile.

"J'taime, Belle."

"Love y' to, Remy.  Now go!"  He laughed softly and hung up the phone.  Now he just had to find Roberto.  He ran down the stairs and grabbed his sunglasses off the table by the door.  He was just reaching for the doorknob when the door was flung open, knocking him backwards in surprise.  He was surprised to find a fuming Jean-Luc glaring back at him.

"Where de hell do y' think you're going?"

"Out."  Remy didn't have time to deal with Jean-Luc, he had to go and speak with Roberto.  He glared at Jean-Luc, willing him to just let him pass.  Jean-Luc didn't move though.

"What have y' been doing dese last few weeks?"

Remy paled.  This was a question that he was hoping he could put off for a while longer.  "Told y', I got a job."

Jean-Luc took a threatening step forward and Remy couldn't stop the instinctive cringe back.  "Don' lie t' me, boy.  What have y' been doing?"  Jean-Luc demanded once again.

"Nothing," Remy mumbled.  He couldn't let Jean-Luc know that he had been training with his powers; Jean-Luc would force him to stop, saying that it was a waste of time, Remy would never learn.  He was prepared for the blow to the side of his face but it still sent him back a couple steps, head reeling from the impact.  He stared stubbornly back at Jean-Luc, no way was he going to answer him.  The next blow impacted against his chest, driving the breath from Remy and causing him to stumble back.  He gritted his teeth, his fists clenching and glared back defiantly at Jean-Luc.  Jean-Luc smirked at him.

"I know y' wouldn't be t'inking of fighting back, Remy.  Y' remember what happened t' your mother last time."  Jean-Luc chuckled at Remy's helpless expression; he knew that Remy wouldn't hit back now.  He smashed his fist into Remy's throat and watched in amusement as Remy fell to the floor gasping for breath.  Leaning over, he grabbed Remy by the throat, squeezing tightly and forcing Remy to look at his face.

"Y' will be home in de evenings from now on, got it, boy?"  Jean-Luc snarled.  Remy weakly shook his head, no, and was rewarded with a hard slap. "Y' want t' make y' mother do all de work around here?"  Again Remy shook his head.  "Den y' better be home from now on, y' hear?"

"Okay…"  Remy managed to gasp out.  Jean-Luc released his hold and let Remy fall back to the floor.  Jean-Luc went to the kitchen, grabbed the money off the top of the fridge that he had come home for and left again without another word.

#

Roberto was running as fast as he could, trying to get back to Remy.  When he got to the house, he was surprised to see that the front door was open and jogged up the steps.  He knocked lightly on the already open door, not wanting to just barge in.

"Remy?"  he called out when he got no answer.  There was a soft moan, so quiet that for a moment he thought that he had imagined it.

"…Roberto…?"  It was a pain filled whisper and Roberto rushed forward, shocked to see Remy curled on the floor.  Roberto dropped to his knees next to Remy, hands hovering, afraid to touch.  He needn't have worried as Remy latched on to him, hands gripping his shirt desperately.  Roberto wrapped his arms around Remy, soothingly rubbing his back in long strokes.  "I'm so sorry, cher, so sorry…"  he half sobbed into Roberto's chest.

"Shhhh, its okay, Rem."  Roberto stood and pulled Remy up with him.  "Come on."  He wrapped his arm about Remy's waist and took him over to the sofa he had spotted in the next room.  "Where is a med kit, Rem?"  Remy looked at him in confusion.  "You've got a cut on your head," Roberto explained.  Remy reached up to his temple and his fingers came away sticky with blood.

"In de bat'room under de sink, upstairs," Remy whispered.  Roberto made sure that Remy was settled and ran for the med kit.  When he came back, med kit in hand, Remy was staring down at his hands blankly.  Roberto gently turned his head to the side and cleaned and bandaged the cut.  Remy's lack of response was beginning to worry him.  He gripped Remy's cool hands in his own warm ones and began rubbing the knuckles trying to reassure Remy.

"Remy, please look at me?"  He had to find a way to help Remy but knew that Remy wasn't going to make it easy.  Remy reluctantly looked up and stared into Roberto's eyes.

Why was he still here?  Probably it was out of pity but when Remy looked at Roberto's eyes he saw only fierce protectiveness and even love.  Remy blinked in surprise.  "Why are you still here?"

"I told you earlier that I care about you, Remy."

"But you know what Jean-Luc did!  How can you still want to be near me?"  Remy tried to pull away but Roberto would not release his hands.  Remy felt one hand brush against his cheek and flinched expecting to be hit but Roberto only stroked his cheek soothingly.  Remy looked at him in surprise and hope.

"Your father did do this to you, then?"  Although the answer was fairly obvious, Roberto wanted Remy to talk about it.  He was determined now to help Remy no matter how much Remy tried to push him away.  Nobody deserved to be treated like this.

"Oui…"  Remy dropped his gaze once again.  He didn't want to talk about this.

"Remy you have to tell somebody, the Professor or-"

"Non!"  Remy suddenly stood and forced himself away from Roberto.  "Can' tell anybody!  Don' tell anyone, can' leave my mother here wit' him, I can' leave, please…"  Remy was close to panic, pleading with Roberto to keep his secret.  Roberto had to listen!

"Remy calm down."  Roberto stood as well and wrapped his arms around Remy, surprised when Remy began to cry against his shoulder.

"Please don' tell anyone."

"I won't tell anyone, Remy, I promise."  But he already regretted making that promise.  The Professor could have helped Remy but now he had to do it on his own.  He would not break Remy's trust.  "Sit down and relax."  Roberto maneuvered them back over to the couch and sat them both down, still holding onto Remy who obviously did not want to let go yet.

They stayed on the couch for some time, Roberto holding on to Remy as tight as he could.  He began to enjoy the feel of Remy in his arms and wished that it could be under different circumstances.  He chided himself for having thoughts like that when Remy needed him.  At least Remy hadn't pushed him away yet so maybe there was still a chance that Remy could harbor feelings for him as well.  Eventually, Remy pulled back and stared at Roberto forlornly.

"It's late an' I'm sure dat y' want t' go."  Remy rose from the couch and began to walk away.  "Don' blame y' if y' don' want t' see me again."  Roberto most likely wanted to get as far away from him as possible.  He knew that Roberto had said that he cared but he probably was just trying to be nice, nobody cared about Remy that way.  Especially somebody like Roberto, he simply wasn't that lucky.

"You stupid Cajun!"  Remy looked back at him in shock as Roberto walked over to him.  "I don't think I've ever met anybody with such a thick head!  How many times do I have to tell you that I care about you?  I love you, Remy!"  He was surprised by how easily, how quickly he was able to say that and mean it.  "It's okay if you don't want to say that back but I'm not going anywhere until we talk about this."

"Dere is not'ing t' talk about!"  Remy was getting angry at Roberto.  Maybe he did care but what right did Roberto have to meddle in his affairs?

"Do you think that it's okay for Jean-Luc to hit you like that?!"

"I don' want t' talk about dis now!"  Remy bit out and stalked up the stairs.  He glared over his shoulder when he heard Roberto follow him.  "What de hell are y' doing?"

"Staying until you do feel like talking about it," Roberto replied simply.  He was not going to let Remy push him away.

Remy scowled at him.  "Don' y' gotta get back t' de mansion?"  Remy asked snottily.

"No, it's a weekend; I don't have to go anywhere."  Roberto was beginning to sound smug.  No way was Remy going to get rid of him so easily, Remy wasn't the only stubborn one around here.  He grinned at Remy's scowl.

Without another word, Remy spun around and stomped into his bedroom, slamming the door in Roberto's face.  Once inside his room, Remy smiled.  Roberto wasn't letting Remy push him away, he really did care and Remy loved him for it.

It was a few minutes later when Remy heard the knock on his door.  He ignored it; if Roberto really wanted in he would simply walk in.  He did wonder what had taken Roberto this long to say anything, though.

"I hope you're decent because I'm coming in," Roberto declared, opening the door.  Stepping into the room, he looked around but saw no sign of Remy.  "Oh shit, Remy!  You had better not have gone through the window, you piece of-!"

"I'm in de bat'room," came Remy's annoyed voice, cutting him off.  The water turned on a moment later.

"Oh," Roberto murmured, embarrassed.  Guess he could trust Remy more than he thought.  "I called the mansion and told them I wasn't coming home."  He sat on the edge of Remy's bed and watched as Remy come out and glared at him.

"Y' really gonna stay aren't y'?"

"Yep, so ya may as well get used to me."

Remy snorted in amusement.  "If Jean-Luc comes home and finds y' here…"  he let the sentence trail off.  Roberto instantly sobered.

"Why don't you fight back, there's no way he's stronger than you."  Roberto still didn't get this part.  Remy took it like there was nothing he could do about it, why not leave?  Why not stay at the mansion where he would be safe?

Remy sighed and looked down at his hands.  "Can' leave my mother with him."  Remy sat on the bed, leaning back against the headboard.

"Why?  Why don't you just take her with you?"

"She won't come, she t'inks it's wrong to leave her husband," Remy's voice was bitter.  He got up and shuffled over to his closet, grabbing boxers and a t-shirt and changing, completely ignoring Roberto who was still on the bed, staring at him in shock.

"You're not exactly the modest type are you?"

Remy didn't bother answering, just walked back to the bed and rolled under the covers.  "It's late, I'm going t' sleep."  Roberto stared at the lump under the covers for a moment before sighing and rolling under the covers himself.  Remy turned to glare at him.  "What do y t'ink y' doing?"

"Going to sleep."  Remy raised an eyebrow at him.  "I'm not about to freeze on top of the covers when I could be perfectly warm under them and I don't want you sneaking off before we've had the chance to talk."  Remy growled and turned away from Roberto again.  Roberto chuckled and settled in for a long night.


	7. chapter seven

Chapter Seven

Roberto woke the next morning to find Remy staring at him intently.  It appeared as if he had been doing it for some time.  He stared back for a moment but Remy made no move to say anything.

"Uh, morning, what's going on?"  Roberto said somewhat nervously.

"Why are you still here?"  Remy said almost accusingly.  He hadn't expected Roberto to actually stay the entire night.

"Because I care," Roberto repeated yet again.  Remy seemed to search his eyes for a moment.  His gaze dropped and, when he looked back up, he seemed unsure.

"Yesterday, y' said y' loved me, did y' mean dat?"

"Yeah, yeah I did."  He dropped his gaze to the sheets surrounding him.  He had been too afraid to discuss this yesterday.  "Do you think you could… love me back?"  he asked hesitantly, afraid to look up.  What if Remy refused him?

"Don' know if I can say dat I love y' back mais I would like t' try… see if, maybe dere could be somet'ing dere.  Would like t' be wit' y'."  Remy could only hope that what he was offering Roberto would be enough.  Maybe in time he could love Roberto but not now, not yet.

Roberto looked back up at him, unmasked happiness in his eyes.  "I'd like that too."  Roberto couldn't believe his luck.  Remy wanted him, didn't love him yet but that was okay because they had all the time in the world.  Remy reached forward to gently brush the tips of his fingers across Roberto's lips.

"Can I kiss y'?"  Remy whispered, leaning oh so close to Roberto.

"Yeah," Roberto managed to force out, feeling Remy's breath across his cheeks.  Remy let his hand slip into Roberto's hair and leaned forward that last little bit to let their lips brush together lightly, deepening it when Roberto didn't pull back.  Roberto's hand stroked down to come to a rest on Remy's lower back, fingers curving against his spine.  A knocking at the door jerked them both back to reality and they pulled apart.

"Remy, y' awake?"

"Uh, yeah, mom," Remy answered hoping she wouldn't walk into the room.

"I'm going to town for awhile, Jean-Luc is sleeping in his room so you've got de house t' yourself."

"'Kay, t'anks, mom," Remy called back, relieved when he heard steps retreating down the hall.  He looked over at Roberto who was grinning and shook his head.  "Going t' go shower," he mumbled, kicking the blankets off.  "Make y'self at home, cher."

"Wait, what does 'cher' mean?"  Roberto asked suspiciously.  Remy laughed as he walked into the bathroom.

"Dat's for me t' know, cher," he called back.

"You had better not be insulting me!"  All that answered him was more laughter.

#

Kitty turned over restlessly as she began to wake.  With a huge yawn she sat up and stretched, wondering what could have woken her.  She looked across the room and blinked her eyes, trying to clear the sleep from them.  She was about to lay back down when her eyes finally became more focused and registered just what she was looking at.

"Ewwwwwwwww, KURT!  That is, like, so not what I need to see in the morning!"  she yelled waking Rogue in the process.

"What are ya yelling about?"  she asked testily.  Kitty pointed across the room at the wall.  "Oh mah God, Ah knew it," Rogue muttered to herself.  She pushed herself off her bed and stalked over to the wall, ripping off the large photo that showed Kurt and Bobby making out on the rec room couch.  She couldn't quite suppress the huge smile at the thought of all the money she believed she had just won.  Since she was awake now anyway she walked over to her dresser to gather some clothes.  She opened the drawer and another picture of Kurt and Bobby stared back at her.  She proceeded to destroy that picture as well and then gathered the clothes she would wear.  She heard Kitty gasp behind her.

"There was one on my pillow," Kitty explained at Rogues questioning gaze.

"How many of them do ya think there are?"  she asked as she found another taped to the dresser mirror.

"You'd think that they could just be normal and, like, tell people," kitty groused, a little perturbed that she had won nothing.

"Ya do know who y'all are talking about right?  Ah don't think they know the meaning of the word."  She found another picture tapped to the window and started muttering under her breath.

#

"Three down," Kurt said triumphantly.  "Too bad Roberto's missing all the fun."

"He's with Remy," Bobby said.  Kurt looked at him in confusion.  "He called yesterday to say that he was staying there."

"How do you know this?"

"I answered the phone."

"Oh."  They walked into the dinning room and took their usual seats across from each other, piling food onto their plates.  A few moments later and Kitty and Rogue walked in, glaring at them.  They put on their best innocent faces.  The girls were about to say something when Xavier came in and cleared his throat, instantly commanding the attention of the room.

"I believe that Kurt and Bobby have something to tell us," he said looking directly at them.  They shared a glance.

"Nope, can't think of anything," Bobby said.  Kurt shook his head.

"It would be easier for you to simply tell us rather than playing pranks on people," the Professor said.

"Everybody knows anyway," Evan said.

"Dammit!  You just took all the fun out of it!"  Bobby groused.

"Bobby and I are gay and have been dating for a little over a month now," Kurt said a little angrily with a sigh.

"Yeah, we all knew," Jubilee said.  Kurt and Bobby glared at her.  "And that means I win the pool," she continued triumphantly.

"Ah don't think so," Rogue broke in.  "They came out ta me and Kitty earlier.  Ah won the pool."  Jubilee glared at her and Bobby and Kurt stared on, confused.

"Actually," Scott spoke up.  "They came out to me yesterday, Amara won the pool."  Amara practically squealed with joy at the news.

"You guys were betting on us?"  They all shrugged.  "If everyone knew then why didn't you say anything?"  Bobby demanded.

"We wanted to see how long it would take before you told us yourself," Scott answered.

"And it was fun watching you guys trying to be 'sneaky'," Ray chipped in.  Bobby rolled his eyes and Kurt glared at his plate.

"So none of you have a problem with this?"  Kurt asked finally.

"Why would we have a problem with it?"  Jean asked.

"Yeah, it'd be pretty narrow minded of us to fight for tolerance and then hate you 'cause you're dating each other," Evan added.  Kurt and Bobby smiled at everybody and the conversation moved on to other things.

#

Remy paused while washing his hair when he heard the door creak open and someone step in.  He watched the shadow beyond the shower curtain.

"Hey, Rem?"  Roberto asked and began routing through the cupboards.

"Yeah, cher?"

"You got an extra toothbrush?"

Remy returned to his washing.  "Oui, look in de medicine cabinet."

"Oh, thanks."  Roberto opened said cabinet and retrieved the toothbrush and toothpaste, beginning to quickly brush his teeth.

"No problem.  Uh, cher, y' couldn't just wait until I was done t' come in here could y'?"

Roberto snickered.  "Don't worry, I won't peak behind the curtain," Roberto joked.  He finished with his teeth; finger combed his hair and turned back to the door.  "I'll see you in a few minutes."  The door shut a moment later, signaling that Roberto had left the room.  Remy shook his head and quickly finished his shower.

Remy stood in front of the mirror and flinched when he saw the newly bandaged cut on his forehead, the bruise on his chest and the, thankfully, light bruises around his throat.  Now he remembered exactly why Roberto had insisted on spending the night and his humor from only a few minutes before vanished.  Roberto wanted to talk about his father and wouldn't give up until Remy told him everything.

Remy wandered out of the bathroom into his room and began to dress slowly.  He cast a longing glance at his window, wishing that he could slip through it and sneak away.  Then, he remembered Belle telling him not shut Roberto out, she had told him the same things many times before regarding different people but he had never found the courage to listen.  Maybe it was time he listened now; he didn't want to lose Roberto because of his foolish fears.  Roberto cared about him, only wanted to help, he had proven that to Remy yesterday by not letting Remy shut him out.

Remy shrugged into a shirt, buttoned the front and padded downstairs, assuming that since Roberto was not in his room he must be down there.  He found Roberto sitting at the kitchen table, obviously waiting for him.

Roberto let out an inward sigh of relief when he saw Remy shuffle into the kitchen.  He had been afraid that Remy would try to run as soon as he got out of sight.  He was glad to see that Remy finally trusted him although he could see that Remy was nervous.  Roberto didn't blame him, he was nervous as well.  He had never gotten this close with anybody before and he was beginning to fall so fast it was scaring him.  He hid that fear behind a mask of arrogant playfulness like he did everyday, that's what he had done this morning.  But Remy was letting Roberto see what was behind that cocky 'don't fuck with me' mask that he usually wore so maybe it was time for Roberto to take down his mask as well.

When Remy walked up to the table, Roberto motioned for him to take a seat.  Remy hesitated but did so, sitting across the table from Roberto.  Remy knew that he was creating a distance between them but he couldn't overcome the fear that Roberto would decide that he had made a mistake and leave.

"We never finished our conversation yesterday," Roberto stated, realizing that he would have to be the one to get the conversation going.

Remy shrugged.  "Not'ing much else t' say."

"Why don't you stand up to Jean-Luc?  You said something about your mother?"

Remy sighed and ran a hand through his hair.  He would open up to Roberto and see if this could truly go anywhere.  Belle would be pleased that he was finally listening to her.  "Can' fight back or leave 'cause Jean-Luc will t'reaten her."

"Why don't you both leave?"  Why would anyone want to stay?

"She t'inks it's a sin t' leave your husband.  Don' understand it myself."

"How long has this been going on for?"  Roberto was afraid of the answer.

Again Remy shrugged, the gesture conveying his sadness.  "Ever since I can remember," he whispered.  Roberto nodded his head.  It was no wonder that Remy was so unsure of himself and afraid of people.  Roberto reached across the table and grasped one of Remy's hands.  He smiled when Remy looked up at him.  "Are y' sure y' want t' stay.  Total head case, me.  Not many people would want t' put up wit' dat."

Roberto looked at Remy, thinking that he had Remy pretty much figured out by now.  Remy was testing him, pushing him away to see just how hard he could push before Roberto broke and left.  What did he have to do to convince Remy that he would never leave?  He got off the chair and walked over to Remy, kneeling in front of him.  He grasped both of Remy's hands and waited until he had Remy's full attention.

"Listen to me, you thickheaded idiot."  Remy smiled at the cheerful insult.  "I'm not going anywhere, do you understand?  I love you, Remy.  When I first saw you I couldn't stand you but that wasn't really you, Remy, and I love who you really are when we're alone together, when you don't hide behind that mask.  I fell so fast for you, Remy, and I'm falling deeper every day, I couldn't leave you if I wanted and I sure as hell don't want to.  I love how you can be confident as hell one minute but shy and flustered the next, I love your accent and your eyes, I sure as hell love the way you can kick Scott's ass in the Danger Room.  I love you, Remy, and I'm not going to leave you.  And it doesn't matter if you can't say that back to me yet, Remy, because we have all the time in the world and I'm more than willing to wait."  Once he had finished, he looked into Remy's eyes and saw the unshed tears there.  For a moment, he thought that he had said something wrong and mentally started to go over his little speech.

"Oh cher, I want t' say it back t' y' an' I'm so sorry.  I know y' love me, I'm just so scared," Remy confessed.

"I know, Rems, so am I.  This has kinda never happened to me before, not like this."  Remy pulled Roberto up until he was straddling Remy's hips, hands braced on Remy's shoulders.  Remy buried his face into the crook of Roberto's neck, inhaling the slightly outdoorsy smell and letting his hands rest on Roberto's hips.  Remy raised his head after a moment and brought his lips to Roberto's in a kiss filled with promise and hope.  They indulged themselves for a few minutes, kissing and nipping at each other before finally drawing back for breath.  Roberto let his forehead rest against Remy's.

"Won't Xavier be worried 'bout y'?"  Remy asked.

"No, I called him yesterday and told him I would be here."  Remy nodded.  "Are you hungry?"  Remy blinked at the sudden question.  He realized he could hear Roberto's stomach grumbling.

"Oui, could stand to eat.  Let's get outta here t'ough, no offence, cher, but y' need t' change your clothes."  Roberto mock scowled at him.

"I'll have you know these clothes were perfectly clean!  Yesterday."  Roberto reluctantly got off Remy's lap and the two headed back to Xavier's, Remy grabbing his sunglasses as they passed the door.

#

The minute Remy and Roberto walked into the door they were met with a frantic Bobby.  They looked at him as he bounced up to them vaguely thinking that they should probably run away while they had the chance.

"You'll never guess what happened," he exclaimed sounding slightly angry.  Remy and Roberto exchanged looks.  Bobby looked at them in surprise.  "Oh my God, you guys hooked up didn't you?  I was wondering when the heck you two were gonna get smart."

They blinked at him.  "How-?"  Roberto started but then decided that it was best not to question.  "Are you going to tell us what happened?"  he asked instead although he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that question either.

"Everybody knows that Kurt and I are together," Bobby replied sullenly.

"Ain't dat what y' wanted?"  Remy asked, clueless.

"Well, yeah, but we had all these cool pranks to pull on everyone so they would find out.  Now everyone knows so we can't do them."  There was a definite whine to Bobby's voice and Remy and Roberto cringed.  Nothing was worse than when Bobby started whining.

"I'm sure you'll think of something else to do, as long as it doesn't involve us," Roberto said, indicating him and Remy.

Bobby gave Roberto an odd look.  "Um, weren't those the clothes you wore last night?"  he asked slowly.

"Yeah."

"Well, no offense, but you should go and change."  With that, Bobby took off running in the opposite direction, Roberto glaring daggers into his back.  He turned to Remy with a sigh.

"I'm going to go and change my clothes now… And have a shower."  Remy laughed at him and followed Roberto up the stairs.  Once they reached his room, he grabbed a towel and shampoo and headed for the bathroom.  There were so many students in the mansion he didn't understand why they didn't all get their own bathrooms; it would make life so much easier.  He looked behind him to see that Remy was trailing him.  "Can I help you?"

"Non, but just so y' know, in about ten minutes I'm gonna walk in dere."

Roberto blinked at him.  Remy was trying to get back at him for walking into the shower this morning.  "I'll just lock the door."

"I'll just pick de lock," Remy shot back.

"You can pick locks?!"  Roberto asked.  "Could you teach me to do that?"  Remy looked at him odd but nodded.  Roberto walked into the bathroom.  "See ya in a few minutes," he called over his shoulder.

"Is dat an invitation to look behind de curtain?"  Roberto didn't dignify him with an answer, slamming the door in his face.  As stated Remy picked the lock and opened the door to let himself in roughly ten minutes later.

"Hey!"  Roberto jumped.  "I thought you were just joking!"

"I never joke," Remy replied.  He walked over to the sink and eyed the taps. "Hmmmm," he mumbled to himself.  Roberto heard him.

"What are you 'hmmming' about?  I don't think I like the sound of that."  Roberto was beginning to get worried.  What was Remy going to do?  He didn't imagine it would be something pleasurable and began to wish that he hadn't walked into the shower that morning.  Suddenly, the water turned freezing cold and Roberto shrieked, trying to get out from under the cold spray but not wanting to jump out of the shower.  He could hear Remy chuckling and the water temperature went back to normal.  Only a second later it turned back to freezing cold.  "Remy!  Quit messing with the taps!  I didn't do this to you!"  Roberto yelled at him.  Remy laughed again and turned the tap off.

"See ya later, cher."

#

Roberto found Remy relaxing back on his bed, talking with Kurt.  He looked up at him, cocky grin plastered across his face.  Roberto scowled at him.

"I outta kill you," Roberto growled low and menacing.  It only caused both Remy and Kurt to start laughing.  Remy sobered after a minute and turned to Kurt.

"Can I talk t' 'berto alone for a minute?"  Kurt nodded, still smiling and teleported away leaving behind a cloud of sulfurous smoke.  Remy waved his hand around trying to dissipate it, nose wrinkled in disgust.

"You get used to the smell," Roberto said, faintly amused.  Remy looked at him skeptically as he sat next to Remy on the bed.  "What did you want to talk about?"  Remy's eyes became serious once again.

"Can' stay anymore after de training sessions," Remy said eyes downcast.  "An' can' come dat often anymore, weekends maybe."

"Remy you really need to talk to somebody about Jean-Luc."

"Non, I can'"

"Why?"  Why was Remy so stubborn?

"Don' want t' be taken away from my mother, she can' handle Jean-Luc on her own.  I talk wit' de Professor an' he'll want me t' leave her.  I can' do dat."

"I still think you're making the wrong decision Remy but I promised not to say anything so I won't.  I hope you'll think about it, though."

"You're angry," Remy said dejected.  Roberto lay down on the bed and pulled Remy to him so they lay cuddled together.

"I'm not angry, Remy, I'm just worried about you."  He began stroking Remy's hair, as much to calm himself as Remy.

"Y' don' need t' worry, been dealing wit' dis my entire life, can deal wit' it a while longer."

"You shouldn't have to deal with it at all."  He let Remy snuggle into him a little more but let the subject drop and remained quiet, indulging himself a little in the simple pleasure of holding Remy to him and trying not to get overly giddy that Remy was actually letting him.

A/N: Yeah, I couldn't really figure out how to end this chapter so this will have to do… Just felt like writing something cute and happy, besides these two deserve to relax a little with each other as it took them long enough, awww look at them aren't they cute!!  You know I never thought that I would enjoy writing this as much as I have cause I don't really like Roberto but damn!  I am loving this pairing now!  And Roberto as well!  Review mes amis!!!


	8. chapter eight

Chapter Eight

Kitty groaned as one of the books from the rather large stack she was carrying fell onto the floor.  She glared down at it as if that would somehow make the book jump back up onto the pile.  It didn't move however, not that she had really been expecting it to but it would have been nice.  Why couldn't she be born a telekinetic?  And where the heck was Jean when you needed her?

Resigning herself to having no choice but to pick up the book, she quickly bent to set the other books she held on the floor.  Putting the fallen book on top of the others, she carefully picked them back up.  When she stood the pile tilted to one side and the top book slid slightly.  She glared at it, daring it to even think about falling again.  It stayed where it was though and she breathed a sigh of relief and went on her way towards the mansion's library.

She had only managed to take a few steps before she saw something coming at her out of the corner of her eye.  Her head snapped to the side and she screamed as a little brown mouse came racing right for her.  The books crashed to the floor and she took off towards the kitchen.  She spared a quick glance behind her only to see that the mouse still followed.  She screamed again and leapt onto the kitchen table.

"Kitty!  What's going on?!"  Scott bounded into the room, one hand at his glasses, ready to blast away any intruders.  He looked at Kitty, huddled on the table.

"Ewww, like, there's a big ugly mouse chasing me."  Said mouse came into the kitchen and ran headfirst into the counter.  Scott raised an eyebrow at Kitty and walked over to the, now still, remote controlled mouse.

"You mean this mouse, Kitty?"  He had to fight to keep the smile off his face.  She stared at him in shock for a moment.

"Kurt!  Bobby!  When I get a hold of you two!"  A muffled bamf was heard from around the corner as Kurt and Bobby teleported away.

"I think we should put the mansion on red alert as long as those two are together," Scott suggested, only half joking.

"Or just have it declared as a war zone," Kitty agreed.

#

Roberto and Remy jerked back to awareness, having been nearly asleep still cuddled together on the bed, when Kurt and Bobby teleported into the room.

"What de heck is going on?"  Remy demanded at their abrupt entrance.  But Roberto already knew, he could see the glee in their eyes.

"What have you two done?"  He sounded almost afraid.

Bobby grinned at them.  "I said 'Let there be pranks!' and, then, there were pranks."

"You should have seen the look on Kitty's face!"  Kurt started laughing again as he thought of it.  Roberto and Remy looked at them in barely concealed terror.  Bobby rolled his eyes at them.

"Don't look so scared.  We won't bother you two."  They both let out sighs of relief.  "Wimps."

Kurt flopped down next to Roberto on the bed.  "So, does everybody get to hear about you two?"

Roberto looked over at Remy warmly and smiled.  "Why not?  I've got nothing to hide."  What he said was truth and Remy smiled back at him, knowing and glad that Roberto was not ashamed of him.

"So who's up for a game of cards?"  Bobby asked, taking a seat on the bed as well.  Remy grinned.

"I am always up for cards, mon ami."  He withdrew a pack from his pocket and began shuffling expertly.

"Just remember no playing for money."  Remy's face fell.

"Y' take all de fun out of it dat way."

"For you maybe," Roberto said.

Remy let out a very long sigh.  "Fine, we'll play y' cowards way."  He dealt out the cards for a game of gin and was surprised as hell when Bobby, not only won this hand, but the next five as well.  They were starting the sixth game when Bobby spoke up.

"Can we change the no playing for money rule?"  He was met with three sets of glares.  "I'll take that as a no."

Remy shook his head.  "I gotta go," he said, laying his cards down and standing.

"Sure walk away.  You just know that there is no beating me, for I am the king of cards," Bobby crowed, waving his hand towards Remy.  He couldn't help but notice the flinch back as his hand got rather close to Remy but a rare bout of common sense told him it would be best not to say anything about it.

"Where are you going anyway, Rem?"

"Got a training session."

"Then I'll see you in an hour?"

"'Course, cher.  We got somet'ing t' share wit' de people, non?"  He took Roberto's hand into his own, kissed the back of it and took his leave out the door.  Roberto's knees felt curiously weak even though he was sitting and he couldn't help the smile the flitted across his lips.  It vanished though when Bobby spoke.

"What's going on with Remy?"  Kurt also looked interested in the answer.  Roberto quickly covered his surprise and looked at him critically.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid with me, man.  Do you think that I'm blind?  He flinched like I was gonna hit him!  There are bruises around his throat!  That shirt doesn't cover them when you get close to him."  Bobby looked at Roberto almost accusingly, eyes narrowed.  "You didn't-?"

"No! I can't believe you would even…"  he let himself trail off; disgusted and angry that Bobby would even come to that conclusion.  Kurt put a placating hand on Roberto's arm before he could storm out of the room.

"Then tell us what is going on."

Roberto looked between them for a moment, seeing that they both genuinely wanted to help.  "I can't.  I promised I wouldn't."  He shook Kurt's arm off and turned to leave.  "Just…don't say anything about it to him, okay?  I'll find a way to help him."  Bobby and Kurt shared a worried look as Roberto left.  Surely there had to be something they could do to help?  Their thoughts were shattered though as the door slammed open and Kitty stormed into the room.

"You two are, like, so dead!"

"Not if you can't catch us!"  Kurt taunted and teleported him and Bobby away, their worry over Remy momentarily forgotten.  Kitty remained fuming for a moment before turning to find where they had gone.

#

Xavier looked up from his desk as Scott peeked around the corner.  "What can I do for you, Scott?"  Scott stepped fully into the room and came to stand in front of the Professor's desk.

"I needed to talk with you about something."

"Of course, what is it, Scott?"

"It's Remy."  Xavier nodded for Scott to continue.  "I just finished a training session with him.  He said that he would only be coming on the weekends from now on.  He wouldn't tell me why, just that he was needed at home."

"This concerns you?"  Xavier raised an eyebrow.  Admittedly he hadn't had much contact with Remy since he had first come to train at the mansion.  Scott seemed to be doing fine with the training on his own and Xavier had seen no reason to become more involved.  Remy had been doing well here, had even managed to make friends with some of the students.

"There's something wrong with him.  He avoids everyone in the mansion except for Roberto, Bobby, and Kurt.  I went to point something out to him in the danger room today and he flinched like I was going to… hit him… Professor, do you think he's being abused?"

Xavier looked up at Scott in surprise.  "Abused?"  Xavier thought this over.  "Roberto had mentioned to me when he first met Remy that something was wrong.  You may be right."

"How can we help him?"  Scott asked genuinely concerned.

"I am not sure that we can," Xavier said slowly, contemplating.  "We can not force ourselves on him, it will only make him run but we can offer our help." He shook his head sadly.  "Though, I do not believe that he will accept it."

"But, we can't just do nothing."

"No, I agree."  Xavier fell silent again as he thought.  How could they help Remy, if indeed he did need helping, without driving him away?  "He and Roberto have become… close.  I'm sure that if anyone could help Remy it would be him."

"So, we're just going to take a wait and see attitude?"  Scott's tone was skeptical; he obviously did not think that was such a good idea.

"For now I believe that it would be best."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I think you're wrong about this.  If we wait to long, it might be too late."

"He doesn't trust us enough to take the help that we would offer, Scott.  Trust Roberto in this, he is the one that Remy will turn to if he needs help."

"All right, Professor, if you say so."  Scott turned and walked out of Xavier's office stopping momentarily when he was in the hall.  "But, I still think you're wrong," he mumbled to himself before heading to his room.  He had some thinking to do.

#

"So, Rems, ready for dinner then?"  Roberto asked once Remy had returned from his training session.  Remy looked back at Roberto, who was sprawled over the bed doing school work, somewhat nervously.  He knew what Roberto was really asking, "Are you ready to tell everybody?"

He shrugged his shoulders, trying to look indifferent.  "Yeah, sure."  In truth, he wasn't ready at all.  He felt about as nervous now as he did when he first came to the mansion.  But, Roberto was unfortunately – or fortunately, depending on how one looked at it – becoming very adept at reading Remy no matter how much he tried to act like everything was fine.  He knew that Remy was nervous.

"It will be okay, Rem.  They don't mind Kurt and Bobby being together so why would they have a problem with us?"

"Non, dey'll just have a problem wit' me," Remy said, self-depreciatingly, hanging his head slightly.  Roberto finally got off his seat on the bed and walked the couple of steps over to Remy.  Taking Remy's chin in his hand, Roberto kissed him firmly, drawing back to look Remy in the eyes.

"No, they won't."  Why couldn't Remy see just how great he was?  But, Jean-Luc had shattered his confidence and Roberto knew that it would take time to rebuild.  Maybe realizing that not everybody had a problem with him would help.  He grabbed Remy's hand and began tugging him out the door.  He smiled as Remy finally stepped up beside him and slung an arm around his shoulders.

As they stepped into the already packed kitchen, the conversation hitched for a moment as everyone noticed them, Remy's arm still around Roberto's shoulders and so obviously together, but then the conversation went on as before, nobody seeming to care all that much except for a few curious looks.

They took seats at the long table and joined the others in piling food onto their plates.  Most of the noise died down as people began eating, though there was still a fair amount of conversation around the table.  Roberto looked up as Hank, who was sitting next to him, cleared his throat.

"So, I am to assume that you two," he pointed at Roberto and Remy, "are now officially an item?"  Everybody at their end of the table stopped mid-conversation to turn and wait for Roberto's answer.  He never got the chance as Remy answered instead.

"Oui, dat we are," he said with a smile.  Roberto looked over at Remy in surprised delight that Remy had had the courage to answer.  He was still a little nervous but only someone who knew him well would be able to see it.  Looking across the table, Roberto saw Kurt and Bobby grinning at them.

"My congratulations then."

"Thanks, Hank," Roberto said.  There seemed to be nothing more to say on the matter and conversation turned to other things.  Curious glances were still thrown their way occasionally, some wondering just how this particular pair had managed to get together, but nobody wanted to pry into something that was not exactly their business and so nothing was said.

It was nearly the end of dinner when Scott finally chose to make an appearance, though neither Roberto nor Remy had even noticed that he wasn't there.  Everybody noticed when he came in, though, as there was no mistaking the enraged expression on his face.  He cast his glance around the room before coming to a rest on Kurt and Bobby.  They cowered under his glare.  Scott began to stalk towards them, murder written on his face.

"Crap, retreat!"  Bobby barked out and they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Dammit!"  Cyclops swore.

"Scott!"  Xavier reprimanded.

"I'm sorry, Professor," he said, not looking sorry at all.

"Just what is going on?"

Scott huffed out an angry sigh.  "They glued my glasses to my head," he mumbled quickly.  There were a few giggles from around the table and Scott turned his glare on all of them.  Xavier raised an eyebrow at him.  Scott didn't feel like explaining it though.  "Do you have anything that will get them off?"

Hank stood and walked over beside him.  "Come with me, Scott, we may be able to find something."  Scott nodded his head and followed Hank as he led the way down to the lab.  Once they were out of sight, Remy and Roberto quickly excused themselves and began to walk away.

"Boys?"  the Professor called to them.  They both turned and waited for him to continue.  "Tell Kurt and Bobby to come and see me in my office will you?"

They both nodded.  "Sure, Professor," Roberto said.

#

Bobby peeked over the edge of the bed when Remy and Roberto walked into his room.  Seeing that it was only them, he breathed a sigh of relief and got up from the floor, followed by Kurt.

"The Professor wants to see you in his office," Roberto told them.  They shrugged, obviously expecting it.  "Don't you guys think that may have been going a bit too far?"

They looked at him in horror.  "Absolutely not!"  Bobby protested.

"It will wear off… eventually," Kurt said.  Roberto just shook his head.  "And we have some more good ones planned, we can't quit now."

"Jus' leave us out of it," Remy commented.  Bobby rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry, you're safe."  Grabbing Kurt's hand, Bobby walked over to the door.  After checking to make sure that there was no angry Scott coming to kill them they stepped into the hallway and began to sneak down to the Professor's office.  Roberto shook his head and turned back to Remy.

"You up for a walk?"

Remy nodded.  "Sure.  Jus' as long as we aim it towards my house, neh?"  Roberto looked at him concerned for a moment.

"Remy-"

"Jus' don'," Remy cut him off, steel in his eyes.

"But you-"

"Don'."  Remy repeated.  Seeing the helpless anger beginning to form in Roberto's eyes, Remy stepped forward and traced his lips with a finger lightly.  "Can' I just forget about it for awhile?  Be happy?"

Roberto let out a depressed sigh but nodded.  "Alright."  He let a small smile slip through as Remy took his hand and they left the mansion together.

#

Bobby and Kurt walked dejectedly down the hall and into Kurt's room.  They had been grounded for two weeks.  Not that they hadn't expected it to happen, besides the look on Scott's face was well worth it and it certainly wouldn't stop them from doing any more pranks.  The grounding didn't bother them as much as the fact that they would now have not only Kitty but also Scott gunning for their blood.  It was a risk they had been willing to take and if they could go back they still would have done it all the same.

Once in Kurt's room, they collapsed on the bed together and laid in silence for a few minutes. Finally Kurt broke the quiet.

"Who do you think we should get next, then?"

Bobby never had the chance to answer as the door was swung open and Scott stood on the other side.  Bobby leapt up with a cry.

"It was his idea!"  he yelped, pointing at Kurt.

"What?  It was not!  You're the one that suggested we do something to Scott!"

"But you came up with the idea!"

Scott watched them in amusement for a moment.  "Hold on, I'm not here to get back at you."  They looked at him suspiciously.  "I just want to know where Remy is."

"Uh, I think he and Roberto left awhile ago," Kurt answered cautiously, not quite willing to believe that Scott wasn't angry.

"Why?"  Bobby asked.

"Just wanted to discuss his training with him," Scott lied easily.  "Thanks anyway."  He stepped back out of the room, shutting the door behind him.

"He's planning something," Bobby said.

"Revenge?"

Bobby nodded.  "We're dead."

Kurt sniffed dramatically.  "Hold me," he whimpered in mock fear.  Not one to refuse Bobby jumped back onto the bed and wrapped his arms around Kurt tightly.  "Gott, too tight… choking…"  Kurt wheezed.  Bobby looked down at him amused.  "Need… mouth to mouth…"  Bobby laughed softly and bent down to kiss Kurt lightly.


	9. chapter nine

Oh my gosh, it's another chapter…A moment of shocked silence if you please….Right, enough with that. I've been trying to get this chapter up for a couple days now but the formatting kept getting messed up. I think I've got it all fixed now so no more worries. 

Also all the chapters are now beta'd by Marilyn and Ahra so there shouldn't be mistakes, isn't that peachy? All the previous chapters have also been beta'd and reposted.

Chapter 10 is started but only about a third finished. There will be plenty of Kurt/Bobby in that one though.

Please enjoy and don't forget to review…

Chapter Nine

Remy frowned to himself as he heard the knocking coming from downstairs.  It was early morning and he had only gotten up a few moments ago.  He went down the stairs, hair still wet from the shower he had just had, dressed in only a robe and opened the door.

"Scott?"  he said in near astonishment.  Scott looked unsure if not a bit nervous.

"Hey, can I come in?"

Remy watched him for a moment before realizing what Scott was asking and stepped aside so he could enter.  "What are y' doing here, homme?  It's early."  He led Scott to the kitchen and then turned to face him.

"A bunch of us are going out to this redwood forest for a picnic.  Xavier thought it would be a good idea seeing as it's so nice out today.  We're leaving in about an hour if you wanna come."

"Y' want me t' come on a picnic wit' y'?"  Remy couldn't hide his surprise.  Not only because the person who was asking him was Scott, who he had always seen as unapproachable, but because he couldn't believe that anyone would want him there at all.

'Yeah.  Roberto's probably coming as well, though he wasn't up yet when I left the mansion.  He loved it the last time he went there."

"Mais, why would y' want me t' come?"

Scott shrugged casually.  "Because you're a friend."  While it was the truth, Scott really thought that if he could draw Remy out and show him that he had friends at the institute then he would be more likely to ask for help if he did indeed need it.  "Come on, Remy, you might just have a good time."

Remy nodded slowly, maybe it would be fun.  Besides that, he might be able to get Roberto alone in the woods and that presented all sorts of interesting possibilities.  Scott wouldn't have come all the way out here if he didn't want Remy to join him and the fact that he did want Remy there made him think that maybe Roberto was right and not everybody had a problem with him.  "Sure, I'll come."

"Great!"  As an after thought Scott added, " Bring swim trunks, though, there's a swimming hole there and it'll get pretty hot out this afternoon."

Remy nearly panicked but thought he managed to hide it before Scott saw.  He couldn't swim.  If he wore nothing but swim trunks everyone would see the scars that Jean-Luc had given him over the years.  "Non, dat's okay.  Don' like swimmin' much," he lied.  Maybe going on this trip wasn't such a good idea.

Scott could see the hesitance on his face though and hurried to reassure him.  "It's no problem, you don't have to swim, no one will care."

Remy nodded.  "Jus' let me go an' get dressed.  I'll only be a few minutes."

Once Remy had left, Scott took a seat at the kitchen table to wait.  He had seen the split second of fear that had been on Remy's face when he had mentioned swimming and wondered what could have brought it on.  He was hiding something, Scott decided, and come to think of it, Scott could never recall Remy wearing anything less than jeans and a t-shirt.  He could only hope that today would be a step in the right direction in getting Remy to trust them more.

True, the Professor had basically told him to stay out of it and let Roberto deal with it but Scott had had a taste of abuse himself during his short stay at an orphanage when he had been a child.  He couldn't just sit back and watch someone else go through the same thing.  He was startled out of his reverie when a throat cleared behind him.  He turned to see a woman in her forties standing in the kitchen entrance.

"Who are you?"  she asked, stepping into the room.  He stood and greeted her.

"I'm Scott Summers, a friend of Remy's."  He guessed that she was Remy's mother.

She snorted and moved over to the kitchen sink.  "Remy never has any friends," she sounded sad about that.

"He does now," Scott said, a little confused.  Hadn't Remy told her about the school or Roberto?  Obviously not and Scott didn't think he should enlighten her if Remy thought it better that she didn't know.  She didn't answer, just went about the kitchen, preparing breakfast it looked like.  Scott began to feel distinctly uncomfortable in the silence and noticed a few disapproving glances thrown his way.  He was relieved when Remy came back into the kitchen, ready to go.

"I'm goin' out for awhile ma," Remy said when he came into the kitchen.  She turned to him with a smile that seemed to change her whole attitude into something far more pleasant.

"Have fun, Remy."

"See y' dis evening."  He walked over to the door, Scott following and quietly left.  Once they were on their way down the road in Scott's car, Scott finally asked what had been on his mind.

"Did you tell your mom that you were going to the institute?"

Remy debated for a moment on whether or not to answer but decided that it could do no harm.  "Non, she's not too fond of mutants."

"But she doesn't seem to mind you being a mutant," Scott stated.

"She… tries t' pretend dat it ain't dere.  Don' know if she'd be able to handle me going t' a school for mutants, neh?"

"What about your father?  What does he think about you being a mutant?"

Remy had to stop himself from curling his lip in disgust at the mention of his father.  "It don' make a difference t' him."  He turned his head away from Scott and stared out at the passing trees and houses.  Jean-Luc didn't care that he was a mutant, it just gave him one more reason to hate Remy, but he still would have hated Remy even if he had been born normal.  So, no, it didn't make a difference to him.  He was thankful when Scott remained quiet for the rest of the trip back to the mansion.

#

When they arrived at the mansion a short time later, most of the kids were already crowded around the garage, waiting for the last few of them to show up.  Roberto, sitting on one of the front steps, grinned when he saw Scott's car pull up, Remy sitting in the passenger side.

He had been surprised that morning when he had woken up and, discovering that they were heading out to the red wood forest again for the day, decided to go get Remy only to be told that Scott was already doing so.  Why would Scott be going out to get Remy?  As far as Roberto knew the only time they ever really spoke to each other was during the training sessions.  Now Scott was suddenly showing this… interest in Remy.  Why?

He watched them walk over to where he was sitting together.  Scott seemed to be trying his best to get Remy to relax but it wasn't working as Remy seemed to be slightly uncomfortable with the attention.  Roberto frowned and stood as they approached.  He walked the couple steps to Remy and wrapped an arm around his waist, glaring at Scott.

Scott raised an eyebrow at him and then grinned, though he tried to fight it down.  Roberto glared harder at him.

"T'ank y' for coming t' get me, Scott," Remy said, capturing Roberto's attention away from Scott.  There was dismissal in the words and Scott nodded his head.

"No problem."  Scott turned and walked away from the pair towards the garage.  Remy turned towards Roberto with a smug smile.

"What?"

"Y' were jealous."

Roberto looked at him indignantly. "I was not."  Remy's smile turned into a grin.  "Fine, maybe I was… A little."  Roberto gave in.  "What was he doing picking you up anyway?"  He pulled Remy closer to him.  Remy mock frowned at him but was obviously enjoying the attention.  Roberto momentarily forgot about his jealousy over Scott's sudden interest in Remy.  They began to slowly walk over to the garage where all of the students that were going had now congregated.

Remy looked around, surprised when he saw no sign of Bobby or Kurt.  He asked Roberto where they were.

"They have to stay behind as punishment for Scott's glasses."  Roberto shrugged his shoulders.

Remy smirked.  "Did Scott ever get his glasses off?"

Roberto shook his head.  "Nope.  Hank says the glue will have to wear off on it's own.  It'll be a few days at least."

"Alright, everybody who's coming get into the vehicles!"  Hank shouted so that he could be heard over all the chatting of the kids.  It took some time but everyone eventually was seated in either the X-van or Jean's SUV and they were off towards the redwood forest.

#

Remy sat back on the grass as he watched several of the others swimming and splashing around in the swimming hole.  He began to wish that he had never agreed to come here.  All it did was depress him as he could not join them.  He did not want everyone to see the scars that covered his back and shoulders.  So he sat on the bank, watching and wishing that he could join them but too afraid to actually do so.

He had managed to talk Roberto into going and having some fun and not to worry about him.  Even so, he could see Roberto now, casting him another worried glance and felt even worse.  Because of him, Roberto was not having the fun that he should have been having.  Even Scott seemed to have loosened up and was having a good time.  He let out a sigh.

"Why don't you go and join them, Remy?"

Remy started at the voice and looked over to see Xavier next to him.  He had forgotten that the man was there, so lost in his own brooding thoughts.  He shook his head and went back to watching the others.

"Non, dat's okay.  Don' like t' swim much."

"You do not look like you are enjoying yourself much."

Remy shrugged.  "Maybe I'll go for a walk, explore a bit."  Xavier nodded.

"Would you like some company?"

Again Remy shook his head.  "Non, t'ank y'."  He got to his feet and walked away dejectedly into the woods.  Why had he ever agreed to come?  But, Scott had surprised him and he hadn't known what else to say.  Besides, at the time, it had seemed like a good idea.

He stared down at his feet and didn't notice that someone was standing in front of him until he had nearly run the person over.

"Your head is in the clouds, Rem, what's going on?"  Roberto asked.  Remy forced a smile for him.

"Jus' t'inking."

"Why don't you come join us?"  Roberto prodded.  Remy shook his head and refused to budge.  Roberto thought for a moment.  "Then why don't we go somewhere we can be alone?"

"Would like dat," Remy confessed.  Roberto began to pull Remy along until they were a ways away from the others but still within yelling distance.  They were next to the river and, finding a suitable spot, Roberto sat down leaning back against one of the large redwoods, gesturing for Remy to do the same.  Remy did so and Roberto wrapped him in a hug, happy to feel Remy relax against him.  One of Remy's hands flitted across Roberto's stomach and he felt a small shiver go through him at the light caress.  Turning his head to look more fully at Remy, he was surprised when his lips were caught in a hesitant kiss.  Remy rarely ever initiated anything between them.

Roberto let one of his hands run up Remy's back, under his shirt, wanting skin contact.  He gasped when he felt the rough uneven texture of what had to be scars and quite a number of them.  Remy instantly tensed in his arms and broke off the kiss.

"Remy, what-?"

Remy pulled away from him.  "Forget it.  Dis was a bad idea."  He tried to stand, to get away, but Roberto still held him.  He looked back at Roberto pleadingly.  Roberto let his hands drop to Remy's waist and the hem of his tee-shirt.

"Do you trust me?"

Remy nodded slowly.  "Oui."

Roberto lifted the shirt over Remy's head, removing it completely and sucked in a breath upon seeing the scars that covered Remy's back.  He had only seen Remy with his shirt off once and that had been too quick for him to notice the scars.  He hadn't exactly been looking for them at the time either.  He leaned over and kissed one of the scars on Remy's shoulder.  Remy started.

"Cher…"  he trailed off.  Roberto could see the tears glistening in his eyes.  Roberto looked at him to continue.  "How can y' even look at me?"  He turned away from Roberto but Roberto just wrapped his arms around Remy and pulled him closer.

"Because, I love you, Remy, and you are so damn beautiful how could I not look at you?"  Roberto said sincerely.  Remy turned around in Roberto's arms so that he was facing him once more.

"You really mean that."  It was not a question.  Roberto answered anyway.

"You know I do."  Remy smiled at him, kissing him once again before settling into Roberto's arms.  There was silence for some time.  "Did you have many friends back in New Orleans?"  Roberto asked, hoping that talking about something good would get Remy in a happier mood than he had been in for most of the day.  Remy nodded and smiled as he thought about Belle and Emil.  "Tell me about them?"  Again, Remy nodded and began to tell Roberto about them until they were called for lunch by the Professor.

#

Bobby giggled as Kurt pushed him forward and into the hallway.

"Shhhhh…"  Kurt hushed him.  Bobby looked over his shoulder at Kurt as he was pushed down the hall.

"Why?  Not like anyone's here to catch us."

"Storm is still here," Kurt reminded him.  Bobby rolled his eyes and waved a hand dismissively.

"She's in her garden.  Besides she'd never suspect we're up to anything, we're perfect little angels- "Bobby's voice rose an octave as Kurt teleported them away suddenly.  "Jeez, warn me when you're gonna do that, huh?"  he groused once they had reached their destination a split second later.

Kurt smirked at him and then quickly looked around the bathroom that they were now in.  It took him only an instant to spot what he was looking for and, grabbing the container of shampoo off the edge of the bath, he turned back to Bobby.  With matching grins they quickly unscrewed the top and dumped the contents of the bottle that Bobby held in the shampoo.  The shampoo bottle was then placed back where they had got it.

"Do you really think that this is a good idea?"  Kurt asked suddenly, staring in concern at Bobby.

"Of course it is!  There are already far too many blue mutants out there; we need to add some color."

"But we're already being punished for what we did to Scott, we're going to be even worse off after this."

"Isn't it worth it?"

Kurt smiled and rested a hand on Bobby's shoulder.  "Anyone ever tell you you're a bad influence, Drake?"  Bobby was about to respond but the only thing that escaped him was a surprised yelp as Kurt teleported them back to Bobby's room.

"I told you not to do that!"

"Yes, but, I've come to realize that I shouldn't listen to anything you say."  Kurt grinned and Bobby looked suitably insulted.  Kurt turned and threw the now empty bottle of glow in the dark pink die into the garbage.  Seizing his opportunity, Bobby leapt forward and tried to grab onto Kurt's tail, hoping to pull Kurt to the ground and treat him to a lovely face full of snow.  It was the least Kurt deserved after insulting him.

Things didn't go quite as planned, though.  Before Bobby even managed to get his hands on Kurt, his tail came alive and wrapped around Bobby's wrists, yanking him forward so that he stumbled into Kurt who had now turned around to face him.  Kurt looked at him with a mocking grin.

"When will people learn to never try and grab my tail?"

"Uh…"  was all that Bobby could come out with, for once speechless as Kurt lifted his arms over his head by his bound wrists and pushed him back onto the bed.  Laying flat on his back, Bobby looked up at Kurt, now kneeling over him, and tried to raise his hands only to find them held firmly in place.  Why had he never realized just how strong Kurt's tail really was?

Hands secured above his head, Bobby could do nothing as Kurt began kissing along his jaw and down his neck.  Not that he exactly wanted to do anything about it mind you. What he wanted to do was kiss Kurt's lips but every time he tried Kurt would chuckle and move to kiss him elsewhere; his temple or his throat or maybe nibble on his ear making him gasp.

Kurt's hands roamed down to his jeans, tugging his shirt loose and Bobby shivered at the sudden sensation of soft fur sliding across his now bare chest.  He tugged against the restraint on his wrists, wanting to touch but Kurt didn't release him and Bobby groaned in frustration.

Bobby watched in fascination as Kurt smirked at him and sat up to quickly divest himself of his own shirt.  Finally, Kurt leaned forward to capture Bobby's lips in a bruising kiss, releasing Bobby's wrists as he did so.  Instantly, Bobby wound his fingers through Kurt's hair, pulling him deeper into the kiss.  God, this felt so incredibly good, and right, he didn't want to stop.  Apparently Kurt had the same thoughts as he straddled Bobby's hips and pulled back slightly to whisper against Bobby's lips.

"I want you in me."

"Are you sure?"  Kurt answered him with another kiss that drove any doubts out of their minds.  How much had he dreamed – fantasized – about this?  Whether it was Kurt taking him or him taking Kurt, it didn't matter, he still wanted it.  Now Kurt wanted it too and the world could not possibly get any more perfect.


	10. chapter ten

Chapter Ten

Everybody stared, jaws dropping open in shock as Beast walked casually into the kitchen and took a seat at his normal place for breakfast.  He didn't seem to notice the stares directed at him or, more likely, was doing a good job of ignoring them.  The shocked grins began slowly to turn to amused smiles, although most of the students tried to keep their expressions under control, their lips still twitched upwards. 

Finally Hank looked up from setting food onto his plate and gazed around at all the faces staring intently at him.  He cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"Is there a problem?" he asked innocently.  "Have I got something in my teeth?"

There was silence for a moment, which Xavier decided to break.  "Hank, you do realize that you're, well, pink?" he put forth cautiously.  Even he was having a hard time keeping his expression schooled. 

Hank neatly folded a napkin onto his lap and looked back up at them.  "Ah, well you see, I figured that we already had enough blue mutants around and that it was time for a change."

"Pink?"  Ray snorted, trying to stifle his laughter.  Others around the table were doing the same.

"Not just any pink, my friends.  Glow in the dark neon pink."  That was it, everyone burst into laughter, even Xavier couldn't stop himself from chuckling at the sight of Beast.  Beast took it all in stride, not seeming at all concerned.  As the laughter finally died down, he turned his gaze to Roberto who sat at the end of the table.  The seats beside and across from him, usually taken by Kurt and Bobby, were empty.  "I am assuming that you know something about this, Roberto?"

Forcing his smile down, Roberto answered, pointing towards the hall outside the kitchen.  "They're hiding in the hall." 

Twin squeaks came from said hall and Kurt jumped around the corner, pointing an accusatory finger at Roberto.  "You traitor!"  One great bound took Beast across the room and before Kurt had the chance to react Beast had him by the back of his shirt. 

"I do believe we have some talking to do about pranks."  Hank looked over at Bobby who was slowly backing away, hands raised in surrender.  "Bobby," Hank said in a warning tone.

"Don't just stand there, help me!"  Kurt pleaded.

Bobby shook his head and turned to sprint down the hallway.  "Every prankster for himself, man."  He had barely gotten two steps when Scott, just coming down for breakfast, tripped him with a conveniently placed leg.  He grinned down at Bobby who glared back up at him. 

"Payback, Drake," was all he said as way of explanation. 

A moment later and Xavier was in the hall as well.  Amusement was gone and replaced with a stern look.  Both Bobby and Kurt swallowed convulsively.

"I believe that these pranks have gone on for long enough."

Bobby and Kurt exchanged worried looks.  "What are you going to do?"  Kurt put forth cautiously.

Xavier shook his head.  "We will discuss it after school."

They both nodded and Bobby finally got to his feet.  Xavier and Hank left to head back to the dinning room and continue with breakfast.  Once they were gone Bobby glared over at Scott. 

"I can't believe that you just betrayed one of your own.  I'm ashamed."

Scott's only response was to raise an eyebrow before shaking his head and walking to the dinning room to join the others.  Bobby turned to Kurt, eyes widening when he saw the death glare that was aimed his way.

"What?"

"I told you this would be going too far but did you listen to me?"  Bobby scratched at the back of his neck and tried to form an answer.  "No, you did not."

"Yeah but it was fun, you gotta admit it."

"But who knows what the Professor is going to do to us now."

"We will survive and come out fighting like we always do."

"You're insane you know that?"

"Proud of it."  Kurt grinned and shook his head.  Bobby walked up to him, wrapping both arms around him.  "You know you love it."

"Love you," Kurt said vaguely cautiously and waited to see Bobby's response.  It was not quite what he would have hoped.

Bobby smiled softly at him and leaned forward to kiss Kurt lightly.  "Lets go and enjoy our last day of freedom." 

Kurt could only nod, trying to hide his disappointment and follow as Bobby headed for the dinning room. 

#

Of course it's kind of hard to enjoy one's last day of freedom when half of that day is spent in a place were you don't really want to be.

The morning seemed to go by surprisingly quickly, at least in Bobby's opinion.  The fact that he had nothing on his mind but Kurt had most likely helped with that.  Three hours of school and he hadn't heard one word of what his teachers had said.

He couldn't get his mind off the other night with Kurt.  It had been awkward and they had been nervous but it had been absolutely perfect.  And now this morning Kurt had said that he loved him.  Things couldn't possibly be more perfect and Bobby wanted to show just how much he loved Kurt with more than simple words. 

By the time lunch rolled around, he knew exactly what he wanted to do to show Kurt just how much he meant to him.  He still needed advice though and decided to seek out Roberto. 

It didn't take long, he found Roberto at his locker putting his books away just after the bell rang.  Bobby nearly bounded up to him.  He could see the look of fear on Roberto's face a mile away.

"Please tell me that you don't have anymore pranks planned," Roberto nearly pleaded. 

Bobby looked innocent.  "Weeeell…"

Roberto shook his head and took a step back.  "Leave me out of it."

"Oh don't worry so much.  I have no intentions of pulling any pranks for at least two weeks."  Roberto could only shake his head at Bobby.  "Actually I wanted your advice and help."

Roberto couldn't help his curiosity.  "Help with what?"

"I wanted to do something for Kurt.  Get him something to show that we're together and I love him type thing.  Like a ring, you know?  Only not a ring 'cause that wouldn't really work too good."

Roberto contemplated that.  "That's actually a good idea.  I'm surprised at you Bobby."

Bobby mock glared at him.  "I do have them occasionally." 

"What do you need my help with exactly?"

"Help me pick something out."

"Don't you have to go right home to talk with the Professor after school?"

Bobby sighed drastically.  "Yes, which is why we have to go now."

"Alright."

Bobby grinned and clapped him on the back, knocking Roberto off balance slightly.  "Thanks, man."

Roberto shut his locker door and the two began to move through the throng of students that crowded the halls and towards the exit.  Once they were outside and heading down the sidewalk towards town, Bobby spoke again.

"Won't Remy wonder where you've gone?"

Roberto shrugged and shook his head.  "Nah, he had some class work to catch up on anyway."

Bobby nodded.  "Looks like it's just you and me then!"

Roberto gave him a dubious look.  "What about Kurt?  Won't he miss you?"

"Without a doubt."  Roberto rolled his eyes.  "But he can't come anyway because this is supposed to be a surprise.  Not much surprise if he's there when we pick it out."  Roberto only nodded and stayed silent, falling into thought.  The silence only lasted about five minutes.  "What are you thinking about?"

"Remy."

"Now there's a shocker."  Roberto's glare was serious and Bobby sobered.  "What about Remy?"

"I think he still thinks that I'm going to walk out on him.  You have a good idea.  Maybe I could give something to Remy, show him that I really am planning on sticking around."

"Sounds good.  We'll spend the rest of the afternoon buying gifts for our boyfriends."  Bobby flashed another grin. 

Roberto raised an eyebrow.  "And what about school."

"What about school?"

"While you may not care about how much trouble you will get into-"

"Only because I can't really get into any more."

Roberto continued as if Bobby hadn't spoken.  "I would like to be able to actually get out of the mansion sometime this month."

"Fine.  We'll only spend the lunch hour present buying then."  Roberto nodded in agreement.  "So… How's Remy doing anyway?"

Roberto shrugged.  "He's okay."  Bobby didn't need to say the words for Roberto to know exactly what he was talking about.

"If you would tell me and Kurt exactly what's going on, or maybe the Professor, we could find a way to help."

"I know, but you're already helping by being friends.  And I promised not to say anything to anyone."

Bobby sighed but nodded.  "I guess I get that."  Roberto gave him a grateful look and Bobby knew enough to let it drop at that.

#

Remy was just stepping out of his class, finished his work earlier than he had thought, when a not so happy looking Kurt quite literally popped up in front of him.  He let out a not too manly cry and stumbled back.

"Kurt!  Y' got t' stop doin' dat, homme."

"I need to talk with you."  He didn't give Remy a chance to respond, just grabbed onto his arm and teleported again.  Remy looked around at where they reappeared, a little baffled.  They were in the parking lot of the school by Scott's car.

"We couldn' have just walked here?"  He meant it jokingly but Kurt didn't seem to find any humor and only shook his head slightly.  Remy frowned.  "What's de matter?"

Kurt sighed.  "Earlier today… I told Bobby that I loved him.  But he never said anything back."

Remy smiled slightly at him.  "Just 'cause he don' say don' mean that he doesn' feel it."

"Do you think that he does?"

"Don' know, ain't for me t' say anyway.  Mais when he look at y'…" He let the thought trail off and shrugged slightly.  "He'll say it back when he's ready."  Kurt looked hopeful.  "He cares about y' Kurt, y' don' gotta doubt dat."

Kurt smiled sheepishly.  "I guess I just needed a pep talk."

"Don' worry, need a lot of dose myself."

Kurt looked slightly worried.  "Roberto loves you, you know."

Remy nodded.  "Je sais, mais for how long?"  Kurt's concern deepened but the bell rang and Remy swiftly turned the conversation.  "Better get t' class.  Wouldn't want t' have t' stay late."  He turned and began to walk off, leaving Kurt to looking worriedly after him.

#

Roberto knocked almost nervously on Remy's door.  School had been out for about an hour now but he hadn't had the chance to see Remy afterwards.  He was unsure if he should be going to Remy's house, didn't want to risk getting his dad mad at him.  But he had to see Remy, had to see his reaction to what he got.

He felt a wave of relief when Remy answered the door.  "Hey, Rems."

Remy looked surprised for a moment before happiness took over and he smiled.  "Hey."

"I have a surprise for you."

Remy perked up slightly.  "Really?"

"Mmhmm, come with me for a bit and I'll show it to you."

Remy smiled and nodded, slipping out the door.  "Show me."

"Not here."  Amused at Remy's eagerness, Roberto took his hand and began to lead him down the street.  Remy seemed happy enough to follow.

"What is it?"

Roberto looked back over his shoulder and gave him a chastising look.  "It would take all the fun out of it if I just told you."  Remy pouted and Roberto chuckled, leading him into the park that was nearby.

He found a bench away from any of the other park dwellers and sat down.  Remy sat next to him with a curious expression.  Roberto took both of his hands and tried to look in to his eyes, hard since Remy was wearing his ever-present sunglasses.  He smiled slightly and was happy to see that Remy smiled back.

"I love you, you know."

Remy swallowed and nodded.  "Je sais."

"And I would never ever leave you."  Remy looked down and Roberto reached a hand to his chin to tilt his head back up.  "I meant it."

Remy nodded slightly, not entirely convinced.  Not one to be put off, Roberto took his hand away and reached into his pocket, coming up with a small jewelry box.  Remy tilted his head slightly.

"Y' got me a ring?"

Roberto sighed.  "Take the surprise out of it why don't you?"  He was smiling though.  He opened the box to reveal a simple silver band.  Nothing fancy, he was sure that Remy wouldn't have liked that.  Just a symbol to show that he wasn't going to walk away.  He waited nervously to see Remy's reaction.

"Y' did dis for me?"  He sounded almost awed. 

"Of course I did.  Remy, I love you."

He took the ring from the box and held it out for Remy.  Remy took it from him in near reverence, gazing at it before looking back up at Roberto.

"I got one for myself too." He held up his hand to show Remy the matching band.  "You don't have to wear it if you don't want to though."

Remy shook his head and smiled.  "Cher, of course I want t' wear it."  He slipped it onto his finger to prove this.  "T'ank y'."  He leaned forward and brushed his lips lightly against Roberto's.  Roberto knew that he was probably beaming at him like an idiot.  "I gotta get back home t'ough."

Roberto nodded, somewhat reluctantly.  "I'll see you at school tomorrow?"

"Oui, at lunch."  He gave Roberto's hand a quick squeeze before standing to head back to his place.  Roberto watched him go, hoping that he would no longer think that Roberto was going to leave.  Or at least not as often.

#

Kurt was lounging in the rec room, playing a half hearted game on the playstation when Bobby walked in, grinning from ear to ear.  The grin faded though when he saw the dour mood that Kurt was obviously in.  He frowned and walked over to sit next to him. 

"What's up?"

Kurt shrugged and tried to look casual.  He gestured at the screen.  "You want to play?"

Bobby shook his head and shifted closer.  "Don't change the subject.  What's up?"

Kurt gave him a warning glare.  "Nothing."

"You can talk to me." 

"You're pushing."

Bobby sighed.  "Fine.  When you're ready you can talk to me.  Until then I have something that might make you feel a bit better."

Kurt paused the game and turned to look fully at him, curious despite himself.  Bobby reached into his pocket and pulled something out.  He kept his hand closed around it though so that Kurt couldn't see what it was.  Bobby could see the frustration on his face at not knowing and smiled.

"I wanted to tell you something but I wanted to tell you proper."  He opened his fist and let a silver chain dangle from it, with a simple silver 'D' hanging from it.  Kurt looked at it curiously.  "The 'D' is Drake.  I got one to with a 'W'.  I love you, Kurt."

Kurt could only stare back at him absolutely incredulous.  Bobby waved a hand in front of his face, grinning.  Kurt seemed to rouse, gave Bobby a most winning smile and practically threw himself at him, pushing Bobby back onto the couch and kissing him hard.  Bobby wouldn't have been able to complain if he'd wanted to.  A moment later and Kurt was teleporting them up to Bobby's room.


	11. chapter eleven

One year later and there's actually an update. Go me. Well there's only gonna be about one chapter after this and possibly a short epilogue. So it should only take me about another year to finish, eh? Lets hope there some of you that are acutually left reading this... Oh yeah. This isn't beta'd so I'm sorry for the mistakes ahead of time.

Chapter Eleven

Remy had only been gone for a short fifteen minutes while he had talked with Roberto. It was more than enough time for Jean-Luc to notice his absence though.

When he walked back into the house and in to the living room, Jean-Luc was standing there waiting for him. The look on his face more than told Remy that he was in trouble. He stopped just in the door way to the room and met Jean-Luc's cold gaze.

"Where have y' been?"

"Was only gone for a few minutes."

"Y' weren't supposed t' be gone at all."

"'M sorry. I won't do it again."

"How many times have I heard dat before, Remy?"

Remy cringed and took an involuntary step back. "I'm sorry."

"Don't say you're sorry, boy, just don't do it. Y'd t'ink by now dat y'd have learned t' obey orders."

"Oui. I won't do it again."

"Now y' lying t' me." Jean-Luc took a step forward. Remy couldn't help but cringe back. He flinched reflexively, prepared for the hand he knew was about to strike at him, eyes shutting to brace himself as he knew that there was no point in fighting back. There was rarely any point in anything when it came to dealing with Jean-Luc.

That hand dealt a glancing blow to the side of his face, a warning that had him gasping at the flare of pain he knew could be so much worse and backing away. A hash hand wrapping with bone grinding tightness around his wrist stopped him though, jerking him back and shoving him hard enough for him to cry and jangle a painting off its nail so it crashed to the ground. Another thing that he was sure to be punished for as the frame cracked.

The doorbell rang then, stilling Jean-Luc in his tracks and he scowled over at the door, just visible from the entrance to the living room. The grip on Remy's wrist didn't loosen though, if anything it got tighter and Remy paled slightly.

"Please, pere," he begged and tugged slightly against the hold on his wrist.

Jean-Luc just gave him a slight shake. "Shut up, boy."

The knock sounded again, concerned voice of Scott drifting through the wood. "Remy? Are you okay? ...I thought I heard something. Remy?"

Remy moaned. Not Scott, not now. He could only be thankful that it wasn't Roberto. The grip on his wrist was jerked again.

"Friend of yours?" Jean-Luc practically growled.

Remy shook his head desperately. "Non. Jus' someone from school. Don' know what he wants. Please, I'll make him leave."

"Oh, he'll be leavin'." With that Jean-Luc started to drag him towards the door. Remy struggled uselessly against him, straining against the iron grip on his wrist.

"Non. Please, don'."

But Jean-Luc wasn't listening if he ever did. Dragging Remy down the short hall to the front door, clearly drunk as ever and Remy often wondered if completely insane to go with it. Struggling was pointless and he gave in, letting himself be forced along and resisting the urge to whimper more for fear at Scott's reaction than any pain from his wrist. He didn't need anybody else knowing about this than already did, didn't need anybody else thinking him as utterly pathetic as he clearly was. But he couldn't do anything to stop Jean-Luc from swinging the door open. Couldn't stop Scott from looking at them both in astonished, eyebrows raised over the rims of his sunglasses.

"...Remy, what-?"

"Dieu, Scott, just go away," Remy half gasped out.

Jean-Luc was glaring at him. Scott could only stare in shock, finding himself frozen as the only conclusion possible reached him. Jean-Luc snorted when it was clear that Scott was making no move.

"Y' got no business coming around here. Get de hell out."

That seemed to snap Scott out of his gaping and behind the glasses his eyes narrowed. He stepped forward, intent on coming to Remy's defense and never mind that Remy might not want it. Because he clearly needed it.

"Let go of him." He was demanding, Remy was cringing. Jean-Luc was just smirking, amused over the entire situation. He shrugged callously and used the grip he still had on Remy's wrist to swing him forward into Scott who only just managed to catch Remy and stop them from both falling over.

"Whatever you say," was Jean-Luc's only response as he slammed the door after Remy. Remy knew that tone, that hint of amusement that said he was just imagining new ways of punishing Remy for this later.

He pulled away from Scott, half stumbling and looking at Scott in disbelief. Scott was looking back at him in concern; Remy could feel the gaze drifting over him, searching out injuries. He had gotten off lightly but it didn't matter. He would only get far worse later on.

"Are you okay?"

Remy gritted his teeth, afraid of what would come the moment he stepped back through that door. Angry at Scott for causing it. Why the hell couldn't people just let him be? Couldn't they see that all they ever managed to do was make it that much worse?

"Non, 'm not okay. An' t'ank y' for makin' it so much worse. Stay de hell away from me, Scott. De others better stay away as well." He didn't wait for any reply. Judging from the bafflement that took over Scott's features at Remy's words it would have been a few moments before he could respond anyway.

He broke into a run before Scott could stop him. Just running, he didn't know where as long as it was away from here. Away from this hell.

* * *

He could not possibly have any more of a goofy smile on his face. And Roberto plus a goofy smile was just somehow wrong. It went against nature and everything that was ever right with the world. Now a goofy smile on Kurt was just nothing short of adorable but on Roberto... No.

Still, Bobby couldn't help but grin himself at the look on his friends face. His day hadn't exactly been bad either and he figured he had every reason to be every inch of the thrilled he was. Looked as if Roberto had had a similar time of it.

Bobby half bounced up to him and clapped Roberto enthusiastically on the shoulder. Roberto jumped as he'd been off in his own world, letting his mind wander. It wasn't hard to guess that they would be thoughts of Remy. The jump of surprise didn't knock the smile away any though.

"Hey there, 'Berto. Lookin' good. Take it from that pathetic smile on your face you had a good day."

Even that, while it would normally make Roberto scowl at Bobby, didn't seem to faze him at all and he just smiled up. "Could say the same for you."

Bobby could only give a fondly reminiscent smile and nod a little slowly. Great day it had been and he was beginning to think that he might just need to bound off and find Kurt. Plaster a big wet kiss on him for no more reason than because he wanted to and could. From the look on Roberto's face he was thinking the same thing. Regarding Remy of course.

Before either of them could do anything though, Scott was suddenly there and jogging up to them, distressed look on his face. Bobby turned to face him just as Roberto got to his feet and they watched him approach. Trying to be worried but both of them too happy to properly manage it.

Scott came to a stop before him, instantly ignoring Bobby to favor Roberto with a worried, bordering on guilty look.

"You need to go find Remy."

Instantly Roberto was overtaken with a worried, panicked look at Scott's words. He stepped forward menacingly, demanding to know just what Scott had done.

Scott raised his hands placatingly. Bobby watched both of them in confusion, standing back and resisting the urge to demand an explanation as well. "Just go find him."

Roberto stared at Scott a moment longer with narrowed eyes, wanting an explanation but even Bobby could see that standing around yelling at Scott - while kind of fun - wasn't getting him anywhere. With another worried glance between the two, Roberto turned and jogged off. Scott yelled after him.

"Check the park by his house."

Roberto didn't look back and Scott and Bobby could only watch him leave. Once he was out of sight, Scott turned back to Bobby, favoring him with a less than pleasant look. Bobby instantly looked defensive, ready to plead 'I didn't do it'.

"You and Kurt have been hanging out with those two. Did you know about what's been going on with Remy at home?"

Of course Bobby knew what he was talking about. There was little else that he could mean. Bobby shook his head though, putting on a falsely baffled look. Because he wasn't supposed to tell anyone else and he wasn't about to break a promise. Even if it was a stupid one to keep... Trust was important.

"This is important. You want to help Remy? Then find Kurt, and don't tell me neither of you know what's going on, and meet in at the Professor's office."

He didn't wait for a response before turning and continuing on his jog to the mansion and presumably to the Professor's office. Bobby stood there for a moment in indecision before leaving to find Kurt.

* * *

Remy was where Scott had said he'd be. In the park by his house and off down one of the old jogging trails that was overgrown with vegetation and very rarely used. It was as good as any place be alone. Secluded and quiet. He was sitting leant back against a tree when Roberto found him. He didn't even bother to look up as Roberto walked up to him though he couldn't have failed to hear the noise of Roberto's feet snapping twigs along the path. He stared at the ground, arms resting over his drawn up knees. Roberto kneeled before him, wanting to catch his eye and raising a hand to gently push the sunglasses up so he could do so. Remy made no move to protest or acknowledge him and Roberto sat back on his heels, unsure what he should do.

"...Remy? What happened? Scott said I should come talk to you. Did something-?"

Remy finally raised his head, silencing Roberto with a single look. "Leave me be, 'Berto. Ain't in de mood."

"You know I'm not gonna leave." Roberto smiled softly at Remy as he said it. No way could he ever leave Remy, especially not like this.

"I never asked for any help from any of y'." His voice didn't hold the anger it should have, just quiet depression. Roberto raised his hand to brush over Remy's cheek, hoping to offer comfort in some way, he'd noticed the red mark there and it was easy to guess what happened. Why Scott was worried and why Remy was here now.

"Well you don't have to. We're your friends now and we help regardless."

Remy shook his head, looking desperate for Roberto to just understand. Roberto didn't, couldn't. "But y' ain't helpin'. Y' makin' it all worse. Don' y' see?"

"No! I don't understand at all. Why you stay there. You'd be so much better off if you just came to the mansion."

"I told y' why."

Letting out a steadying breath, Roberto tried to calm himself and nodded, speaking in a more quiet tone. "I know."

"Den why can' y' just back off?"

"Because I love you too much."

Remy looked away at the honest words. Roberto knew better than to expect anything more. At least not yet. He smiled and got to his feet, holding a hand out for Remy. After a moment, Remy took it and pulled himself to his feet, eyes still not quite meeting Roberto's. Roberto kept hold of Remy's hand after he was standing, lacing their fingers and giving a squeeze.

"You wanna get outta here?"

A shrug was his only answer but it was enough. At least Remy wasn't balking at him anymore, wasn't refusing everything Roberto offered and telling him to leave. It was a start and Roberto started a casual walk back along the path. Giving them a bit of time together, since he never seemed to get enough, by walking slowly.

The last thing he expected to see as they got closer to Remy's house was Remy's mother walking down the path towards them. She took one look at them; at how close they were, at the hands that they held laced together. Roberto could see her expression cloud over. Could feel Remy cringe next to him and jerk his hand away.

Mary gasped as if she had only just realized what it truly all meant. Her hand rose to cover her mouth in her shock and the look she turned on Remy was so full of disappointment that Roberto had to quell the anger that was bubbling up at it. Wasn't there anyone of Remy's family that just cared about Remy? But she was walking up to them. Roberto held his breath, held himself tense.

Mary reached them, looked between them as though both of them had commented nothing short of a sin - which in her eyes Roberto supposed they had - and slapped Remy hard across the cheek. Darkening the red mark that had already been there. It was enough to snap Remy's head to the side momentarily and he stared at her in shock. She was already turning on her heel though. Walking away from them, the sound of her holding back a sob clearly audible. Roberto didn't care. Only didn't go after her and yell at her because he could see the tears swimming in Remy's own eyes.

Nothing more he could do than wrap his arms around Remy and pull him up close. Do what he could which always seemed to be mostly nothing...


End file.
